


The Pet Whisperer

by liliaeth



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Supernatural
Genre: Body Modification, Butt Plugs, Conditioning, Dehumanization, Dubious Consent, F/M, M/M, Multi, Nipple Piercings, Slavery, Sounding, Vore, pagan gods eating humans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-20
Updated: 2012-07-21
Packaged: 2017-11-10 09:50:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 66,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/464947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liliaeth/pseuds/liliaeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The pagan goddess Despoine is widely regarded as the best trainer of human pets in the supernatural world. When the new god Castiel demands her aid in training his pet Dean, she definitely knows better than to say no.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks: to paleogymnast, smidgeon, xlamentcasx and varkelton for the beta work. To rayvlin for the great art. And to perverted_pages for allowing me to use her idea of the specialized pet feeders that she came up with for her fic [Puppy Love](http://perverted-pages.livejournal.com/18455.html)
> 
> This fic goes au from 701

Once, her names had been countless. Her names used to be chanted across the ages by believers who were hoping for a tip of the veils as they glanced into the mysteries and gave themselves over to her. To those who succeeded though, she was Despoine, daughter of Demeter, the nameless one, the one they called Mistress. And to those who believed in her, she still was.  
She was of the fields, of the cities, of civilization and war, she was of the land and of the water, but most of all she was of all that was alive that came to her to be nurtured into being and taught about life. Whether it was chickens asking how to lay an egg, or deer with their eternal need to run through the woods. Wolves and bears came to her as well, and she would say, pick those who are weak, for they are meant for you, and leave the strong, for they are your future.

And she loved and cared for them all. But of all those who carried the flame of eternity in their very essence, it was humans that she held foremost in her hearts. She loved humans, she loved caring for them, holding them on her lap as they grew, training them once they were ready. She knew the truth that was hidden even from them and she felt sorry for all the millions of males and females who were out there searching for their masters in faith and government and would yet never feel the true pleasure of being owned. 

Oh she knew all about human’s tendency towards self delusion. How much they loved the word ‘freedom’, especially Americans, with their Land of the Free. Nonsense they spouted relentlessly, even as they allowed themselves to be pulled along on leashes made up of religion, or the worship of those with money or power. They claimed they wanted to forge their own destinies, and then they fit themselves into the mold of lives that had been lived before them in a never-ending, monotonous circle of being. Even those put on the outside of society formed their own circles and habits to belong to and tell them how they were supposed to behave, looking at characters on their screens and the music on their radios and iPods to tell them what their life was supposed to be like. She couldn’t blame them, after all, those who fell outside of the accepted path were seen as sick. Seen as too ill to fit into society and forced out of it by rules and regulations. 

But most of all, those who fell through the cracks were desperately unhappy and just waiting for someone to take command of them so they could be happy again. Humans wanted nothing more than a guide to live by, to fall in line, to have someone controlling them, even if only to buck under it and ask to be tamed with their every desperate no. 

Humans were funny that way, they liked to close their eyes to reality, because it made things easier for them. It was so much easier to relax in their lives, if they could believe themselves to be at the top of the food chain, even though they were barely in the middle. Human flesh, human souls, human hearts and emotions, all of that was the primary food source for literally hundreds if not thousands of species, and yet humans still closed their eyes, pretending there was nothing to be scared of in the dark. It was simply put adorable.

Humans put themselves at the mercy of their gods, their religion, putting their souls in the hands of those they believed to be their makers, putting in little more than a pretense of a care for their own protection. And all their predators loved to let them keep their illusions because it made it easier to grab the stragglers of the pack and consume them at leisure.  
They’d argued themselves out of putting salt at their windows, they reasoned their way out of the use of their symbols, their herbs, calling them nothing but superstition and living behind locked doors and stone walls as if those would protect them when a predator came calling.  
It’s why the gods for ages had encouraged science, even if it went at the cost of human belief in themselves, because once faith transferred over to the deadbeat god that abandoned his human children, it was useless to the other gods of the world to begin with. 

Despoine was a child of an age long past, but like many of her kind, she’d grown beyond that. She still remembered the time when human parents would cleanse their children dress them with rosemary and thyme to make them more pleasing to the gods as they sacrificed them. She remembered the look in the sacrifices eyes, fear, acceptance, worship, and most of all, joy to be of service to their gods. 

Her family was one of the strongest among the gods, exactly because they had managed to adapt with time. When other gods lost their believers, Despoine’s family had started farming their humans, keeping them close, raising and training them to serve and allowing them to fulfill their lives purpose. They’d taken the Spartans ideas of keeping their race strong and had used their method to alter their livestock until they grew into the perfect herd.  
Any human in their hands knew they could fill one of three purposes. The most beautiful and most intelligent in their number were kept as pets. Trained from an early age to serve at their master’s pleasure, coddled and cared for from birth to death and living in the lap of luxury at their owner’s feet. Others were marked by their strength and stamina, their ability to handle stress and hardship, those were picked for labor on the farms, in the mines, living happy and contented lives with their spouses, honored when their offspring was picked as pets, knowing the joy that would await them. 

The largest part of the herd though, was the cattle, those bred for their meat, cared for, protected and encouraged to breed freely and often. Their lives kept short, but filled with nothing but pleasure. They descended of those humans who’d been too weak to work, too ugly to serve as pets and too stupid to be kept for their intelligence. They ate better than the majority of their free kin on earth, were kept healthy and allowed to roam freely across the meadows surrounding the farm under the eyes of the shepherds who kept the beasts away from the herd. Innocent, naïve and trusting like children, their meat and trade paid most of the everyday expenses of the farm. 

Despoine had watched as their herd grew from three families to several thousand males, females and even more juveniles. She had walked behind her mother’s feet, as they fed their human cattle, watching them as they grew their own food, mated and bred. She’d played with their young and cuddled their infants. She had followed her mother to the market as she bargained with beings of all species and traded their humans in exchange for money, goods or magic. But it had been hard on her, dealing with creatures far beneath themselves and forced to treat them as if they were equals, simply because they bought their merchandise. Her mother was never cruel to her animals, even when a client solely wanted to buy a human’s eyes, she’d kept them from suffering as she cut out their eyeballs, letting them huddle in comfort until another bought their flesh or blood. It was all so … civilized, so … dreadfully dull. 

Becoming a part of her uncle’s wild hunt had been as much a rebellion, as it had been her first attempt at trying to find herself; She had dressed in leather and rode one of her father’s horses, as they found wild prey suited to their farm, driving said humans to their limits, testing to find which of them were worthy and then returning with their chosen human hung over the back of their steeds, tied and leashed, and ready for their future. She’d sat at his fires as they roasted the weakest of their catch and fed on their flesh, and she’d been repulsed by the look of fear in their other captive’s eyes as they saw what happened to their companions.  
Many of her brothers and cousins sided with their elders on that, but not Despoine, she couldn’t forget the look in that last human’s eyes, a young girl who had watched as her brother fell, and rather than run on, had frozen in place and returned, desperately trying to get her brother back on his feet, get him to safety. Hades had caught them both, choosing the girl for a pet, but the boy who was mentally addled was barely suitable as food. Despoine’s hearts had melted at the sound of the girl’s pleading for her brother’s life, begging to please let him go, not to hurt him. But Despoine had been the only one to listen. His flesh had tasted bitter on her tongue, and though the girl had still been beautiful, like many of their other catches, her mind was broken. 

It was then that Despoine knew there had to be better ways to save the humans from themselves.  
She had come to realize that she shouldn’t be following her mother’s path, because it bored her, nor her uncle’s path which repulsed her. So she had looked to her father and the humans at his feet, and she asked him how he did it, how he took their hopes and molded them rather than breaking them. And Poseidon had looked at her and smiled, because after all that had happened between him and her mother, he’d despaired of ever finding favor in her eyes. 

She’d spent several lifetimes living amongst humans, she made a thing of doing so every few centuries, getting to know the new flavors and habits of mankind, learning how they hid their need for submission, and their desire to be owned. The last time she’d done so was during the sixties. She’d cared for those who lost themselves in a haze of drugs and had been there at Woodstock, picking up many of the forgotten and bringing them to the farm. She had shared that duty with her brothers and they tended to divide the spoils amongst them. Pretty boys with long hair and names like Moonstone and River, and sweet girls that liked to call themselves Angel or Lilly, falling under her gentle hands and responding to her words and her whips until the day she could hand them over to their new owners. They’d kiss her and thank her for saving them before heading on to their new lives and she’d move on to the next pet that needed her help to find him or herself. 

It was rare for her to fail, and even the most disobedient, recalcitrant pet that was put in front of her, came out of her care almost like a new person, loving caring, and sure of themselves, both in who they were and what they were meant to be. She took the abused and made them trust again, took the prideful and broke their arrogance, but the times she’d failed broke every last one of her hearts, not because she’d lost, like her father liked to think, but because she felt she’d let the human in her care down somehow. She’d promised to do her best and it hadn’t been enough. 

It had happened five times, the first one, a former king, had been unwilling to bend no matter what, and she’d had no choice but to let him go, she still heard stories of how he escaped her care and she snickered at the thought that one human could have possibly escaped her if she hadn’t let him. He never quite got rid of that pigtail she'd given him as a reminder.

The next two she’d lost due to their disrespect. No matter how many time she’d warned them, they kept treating her or her kin as if they were monsters rather than gods. One of the two had gone as far as calling them pretenders. Her father had finally taken the decision out of her hands and eaten them both. She’d mourned their deaths, but knew he’d been in the right. 

The last two… gods of mercy… the girl had starved herself, choosing to die, rather than allow herself to be trained, even when Despoine had forced her to feed using the Paidopagis, the girl had just taken the first chance she had to put her fingers in her throat and remove whatever Despoine had managed to get inside of her. Despoine had held her body, carved the remaining flesh of its bones and made a stew out of it. The bitter yearning for freedom still lingering in her flesh as she crushed the girl’s bones and watched the ashes of her meal flow through her fingertips, praying for the girl’s soul. But the boy… she still didn’t understand how he’d found the knife he’d cut his wrists with. By the time she found him, he’d been gone. She’d eaten his flesh raw in respect for his strength, in penance for her failure to understand his needs. The pain carried in his soul was deafening on her tongue. 

It was after that last failure, over two centuries ago, that she’d gone to find a way to do better. She hadn’t failed since. And by now everyone knew that if you needed someone to train your pet, Despoine was the god to ask. 

All of which was a damn good reason to be pissed off with her father when he offered her services to the new god, without even asking her first if she actually had the time for it.


	2. Chapter 2

It all started easily, a meeting of the gods, where Zeus had invited the new god Castiel. After what Castiel had done to what was left over of the Norse gods, Zeus had felt the best thing to do, would be to invite the new god to their homelands so they could all pledge their allegiance to him. Holding all the souls from Purgatory, the new god was a force to reckon with and Despoine hadn’t been able to disagree that it would be best to keep him on their good side. It’s not like they could avoid the former angel, or hide from him if he chose to come after them. 

So she’d hurried home that night, as her mother had begged her to, pleading with her not to displease the powerful god in any way. Even if Despoine didn’t have any reason to believe that Castiel would even notice a minor god like herself missing from the ranks.

She stood in the back amongst her siblings and older children when the God entered the building, his presence was overwhelming from the start. Like all the others in the room, she knelt for him and offered her service to his needs. The god looked at them all, and for a moment she felt a twinge in her very essence as if confirming the truth of their pledge. When he was pleased, the new god nodded in acceptance. It was only then as her father led Castiel to the dining table for their further discussion, that she noticed the human following Castiel’s lead. 

The man was attractive of course, it’s rare to find a personal pet that isn’t. But there was something about him that said he was more than just a pretty face. A weariness that spoke of a strength that just didn’t fit with a spoiled pet. 

The man was dressed in several layers of plaid, covered by a cow leather jacket, while his legs were covered in thick worn jeans. Now of course, she wasn’t about to tell another god how to dress his pets, but still… then again, maybe Castiel was just one of those beings that didn’t like others to ogle his property, keeping his human’s beauty all for himself instead of sharing it with others. 

He seemed hesitant when Castiel sat down, but knelt down on his knees when Castiel touched his shoulder. Despoine knew she had bigger things to worry about, Castiel himself, Apollo’s request for her services when he had one of her brothers get him his new pet, a young college boy that he’d had his eye on for the past year, the boy was a poet or so she’d heard and Apollo wanted to keep the boy’s talent to himself, teach him to write about nothing but the god of light. Despoine couldn’t help her attention fading from Apollo’s self serving arrogance as her eyes fell back on the pet sitting at Castiel’s feet. The way he seemed utterly unable to stop fidgeting, his limbs constantly itching for movement, untainted restlessness, unbroken spirit.

And every once and a while, when the pet couldn’t stop himself, there was a deeply passionate look in the man’s eyes, that he threw at the gods around him. It took Despoine some time to realize that the look was full of loathing. It made her send him her brightest smile, the pet quickly turned down his eyes after that. His owner hadn’t even noticed, paying more attention to Hades who was asking him if he was pleased with his side of the bargain they had struck with the new god.

She kept her mouth shut, no matter how much she disapproved of badly trained pets, it wasn’t her business to tell others how they should raise their animals. It was just such a shame to see an obviously willing pet left in a state that sooner or later would get him in serious trouble, just because his owner couldn’t be bothered. 

The doors to the kitchen opened, and the cook came in followed by servants carrying platters for all those present. The hunters had gone all out, deer, hunted in its prime, several platters of fish and beef, two roasted pigs and the centerpiece of it all, five juveniles brought in from the wild. They’d come in screaming, upsetting the domesticated herd. They were quickly tied with a Paidopagis amulet and sent to the kitchen, but none of the gods living at the farm could have missed their arrival as their loud music upset the grounds in the middle of the night. Her uncle, Hades, had been the one to turn off the music, and silence once again fell over the farm. She’d been to the main kitchen that morning and had watched from the door as her mother’s servants cleaned the animals, four and two legged alike and prepared them for sacrifice. 

The girls were crying in their cages, while two of the boys’ tongues had been cut out to keep them from disrupting the staff. They’d been laid aside in the fridge for later. Despoine had wanted to tell them how great an honor was being bestowed on them, but somehow she didn’t think they’d listen.

Her mother had asked for her help and she’d held down the first of the girls as she was placed on the counter and her guts were cut open, the blood slowly drained into a canter for the soup. The remaining girl had screamed her friend’s name and started clawing at her face. The cook took her out next before she could damage her skin too much, and killed her quickly, soothing her with a gentle voice as he did so. The girl’s bodies were laid flat, their breasts proudly on display, covered with sauce and butter before they were pushed into the ovens to be roasted. Their heads kept aside for the display, with their brains spooned out to be mashed with apples and berries. Of the three boys, one was nearly catatonic, keening in his cage. The cook took him out first, tearing out his internal organs and setting them apart while he filled the boy’s body with stuffing and tied his arms and legs close to his chest. The boy’s eyes were thrown in the soup and replaced with sweets. 

The last two didn’t even bother to fight anymore, too stunned, and frozen after seeing what had happened to their companions, as if they still couldn’t believe this was happening to them on what had supposed to be their round country trip before heading to college. It wasn’t really their fault that the boy driving had bought a Paidopagis from her uncle when they stopped at the gas station only a few miles away from the nearest portal. Her uncle hadn’t even been hunting for meat, mother had already picked five of her stock to be used as sacrifices to welcome the new god. But when he heard their music and saw their smiling faces, he’d known it was destiny. Why else would the perfect group of humans have arrived at the best possible moment to be prepared for the feast?

She had left as soon as she could after that, staring at the ovens, and thinking ‘what a waste’.  
The cook carved the meat in front of the assembly, their heads on display to show that the farm had given its best and most beautiful to impress their new lord. The roasted flesh was placed on platters surrounded by baked intestines and boiled eyes, one plate held their tongues and genitals cut small enough that each god could enjoy some of it.

She seemed to be the only one who noticed the reaction from Castiel’s pet at the arrival of the food. Even his owner wasn’t paying attention. But Despoine still noticed him, the way he held his mouth, he seemed close to losing his lunch. Castiel was talking to Zeus at the time and yet it didn’t seem to stop the pet from trying to catch his owner’s attention. Castiel ignored the pet’s tug on his pants leg, treating him as if he wasn’t even there  
The man’s fidgeting got worse after that, increasing ever more even though his master ignored every platter offered to him. The pet touched his owner’s leg again, interrupting the conversation once again. “Dean!”

The human quickly lowered his eyes. “Cas please, I need to go to the toilet.”

Castiel finally glared at his pet, but didn’t even bother saying anything more than that. Half an hour later, the pet tried again, this time clearly even more desperate, he actually looked almost sick, unable to turn his eyes away from the gods around him as they ate. Despoine wondered if this was the first time he’d come face to face with seeing his own kind as food, she could almost feel pity for him, almost. Her father though didn’t, getting more and more annoyed with the pet’s bad behavior, glaring at him and wishing that the pet’s owner would put the human in his place so he’d stop being a pain, but unwilling to do something to piss off the extremely powerful god amongst them.

When the pet tried again, to get his master’s attention, Poseidon finally lost his temper.  
“Just do something about that thing already.” He muttered. The room fell silent. Castiel turned his attention to him, his eyes piercing right through him. A smarter god would have kept quiet, Despoine’s father wasn’t that god. “Hasn’t that brat of yours had any training? How the hell can you take something that uncivilized out in public.”

All the other gods at the table froze, scooting away from Poseidon as fast as they could, expecting Castiel to smite him right there and then. Instead the new god just looked at him, tilted his head and said: “I do not know how to train a pet. I have never had one before.”  
Despoine could feel several of her hearts breaking for the poor pet at Castiel’s feet. To be owned by someone who didn’t even bother to give you training and then force you onto a gathering of gods, expecting you to behave. It was a wonder the poor human had done as well as he did. More so, if his owner had been any less important, or even the slightest bit less powerful, one of the others might have killed the poor boy for misbehaving while the pet wasn’t even aware he was doing anything wrong in the first place. 

“Why would you get an untrained pet, if you don’t know how to take care of one?” Despoine’s father continued, apparently not realizing how close he’d come to being killed.  
Castiel looked down at the man by his feet., Despoine wondered if he even knew why he’d taken the pet. The man’s looks maybe? Something about his soul…

“He is Dean.” Was all Castiel had to say in response, Despoine almost literally sent thoughts at her father to just please keep his mouth shut before Castiel killed them all for one god’s insolence. Of course, knowing her father, he was ignoring those as much as he ignored just about anything else she said to him.

Or at least so she’d thought.

“Well, he’s got a good ass and a nice pair of lips, I’ll grant you that.” Despoine assumed her father had gotten a better look of the pet than she did, though she did admit that what she could see with the clothes on looked nice enough. He still hadn’t said enough, no, ending it there would have been merciful. “Damn shame about that attitude.”

The pet seemed to cringe and scooted closer to its master at the sound of the god’s words.  
At first she thought it was fear, but then she got a look of his eyes and realized it was anger instead. 

“Dean...” She heard her oldest half brother whisper the name beside her. She turned to him, waiting for him to continue. “That’s one of the Winchesters.”

Despoine rarely bothered to remember human names, beyond those of the pets she dealt with, but even she had heard that name. Dean and Sam Winchester, the Vessels of Michael and Lucifer. Two major weapons fought for and with during the angelic apocalypse. Hunters who had fought and killed gods before. 

Suddenly Castiel saying: “he is Dean” gained a deeper meaning, because if this really was Dean Winchester then he and any of his offspring would only increase in value, depending on whoever controlled him. It made her wonder where the other Winchester was.

Her respect for the new god rose, as she finally took a good look at the pet. Whatever Castiel had done to the former Hunter, he’d tamed him enough to take him to a gathering of gods, and not have him try to fight his way out, enough to get him to kneel at his feet and do his bidding and from what she had heard of the Winchesters, that was more than anyone else in existence had ever managed to do. 

“I have found… it hard to deal with his ‘attitude’.” Castiel said, verbalizing probably the biggest understatement since Zeus told Hera he might have an issue or two with fidelity.  
“You should get him a trainer.” Despoine had to stop herself from getting up from her seat and slapping a hand in front of her father’s mouth. Luckily for both of them, Castiel didn’t seem to take offense.

“See my pet here.” And that was when father pointed at Rory, her father’s current pet who sat in perfect position at her father’s feet, motionless, at perfect attention, ready to obey her father’s every single wish. “He used to be an annoying piece of shit too. Wouldn’t do a thing anyone told him to, kept crawling in corners, crying all the time. At one point I got so tired of his attitude, that I came this close to just throwing him to the cook and getting it over with.”

“The cook?” Castiel seemed to hesitate as if he wasn’t sure of the meaning until he took another glance of the plates.

“Yeah, and then my girl, Despoine told me to give her a chance. She had the boy for a year and he came back perfect.” Despoine smiled as her father petted Rory on the head, showing his approval of the man that her father had owned for over thirty years now. “You should try it, I’m sure she could get your pet ready for civilized society in no time.”

Castiel’s pet cringed, she could see him biting his lip not to say something. Bad behavior in an experienced pet, but for an untrained pet, it was pretty much better behavior than most humans she’d ever dealt with. And she had Apollo to deal with, he was going to pay her with a set of pearls she’d wanted for the past century, and she knew, just knew that Apollo’s prospective pet would desperately need her guidance to retain his creative genius while trained into submission.

And yet.

“Then she shall train him.”

And Despoine just knew that all her choices went right out of the window. Damn her father. Maybe her mother was right for hating him.

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

2.

Despoine hadn’t bothered protesting. She hadn’t told him no, she hadn’t even grumbled about being volunteered like this. She’d told Apollo to hold off, that his pet could wait another year or even two and that if he couldn’t, she gave him the name of two others who could handle the training just as well. Apollo hadn’t fought her on it, he knew just as well as she how little of a choice she had in this.

That morning when she left, her father for once showed some common sense and didn’t even try and talk to her. He might be close to suicidal, but even he was smarter than to face her when she was this pissed off with him.

She fed her youngest son his ambrosia mixed with meat and left him with his mortal wet-nurse. Darla knew better than to spoil him, but Despoine still made clear to tell the boy to be good and not hurt his nurse. He just smiled and she knew she had no choice but to trust him. Her mother just smiled at the sight, not that she cared, if anything happened to Darla, mom would just offer her another one. Not like there weren’t plenty of humans in the farm who would love the honor of being of service to their god. But Despoine hated wasting humans like that. More than that, she wanted her children to treat their pets with respect, to treat all beings with respect, no matter how high or how low they were. Whether they were god, fairy or food, life deserved to be treated with dignity and understanding, and the sooner her youngest learned this lesson, the better a god he’d become when he grew up.

The new god didn’t live on earth, his home was in the dimension of heaven, or the soul hoarders as her father used to call them. But since he needed a place for his subjects, all those who belonged to purgatory, to find him, he’d created himself a home in an old estate over in Maryland. The place had been a cloister once upon a time, a church before that, but above all, it was a place where the links between earth and hell lay close under the surface and Castiel had wanted to make sure that no one but him had access to any place that could be used to contact or free Lucifer or Michael.

Before Castiel had come, the place had had a garden, but it had been small, neglected, little more than a graveyard. Castiel had ripped out the grace of those angels who served Raphael, but had begged Castiel’s forgiveness and had let them fall onto earth, giving them a chance to serve him as humans and show their worth. Their grace now brought pure creation to the grounds, filling it with trees and flowers, a lake filled with life where once had been nothing but dirt and filth. It was a true embassy to Castiel’s might now, and Despoine couldn’t help but bask in its glory even as she passed the edge of the grounds.

More than that though, she could feel time slipping off her shoulders, this place was out of the grounds of Chronos’ clocks, moving slower here than it did outside. She wondered if her mother would miss her, when she realized that Despoine wasn’t back within the day that she’d told her she would be. She sent a quick message to her through her symbiote, and prayed that her mother would receive it.

All around the grounds were some of Castiel’s subjects, praying to their god, begging for the honor of meeting with him, for attention, for him to change his laws, change his edicts, not to let them starve…

She ignored them all and marched up to the main building. Castiel had done much to the grounds, but he’d only barely changed the actual monastery that had stood in the middle of it. The first thing she found was a long wall heading up to what once had been a church, once desecrated by Lucifer’s touch now it was sanctified by its god’s presence. For any who stood in service to the new god, it was the most sacred house of worship in the world. It wouldn’t be long before even humans would come to realize that and once they did, they too would send their emissaries, begging their god for guidance and mercy. She wondered if it would be before or after they realized that Castiel’s protection could start to threaten their very existence. Because even Castiel for all his power, could not make the world any larger than it was, and even Castiel couldn’t provide the world with food indefinitely. She wondered if it would be before or after they started to sacrifice their own in his name.

She entered the church and barely stopped herself from kneeling as she entered. Then she thought about it, and did kneel in respect to the new god, for whatever other gods might say, he had gained the title as their god as well.

The place was cold, dark, she didn’t think that Castiel had done anything with it, beyond emptying it from the remnants of Lucifer’s presence as he’d escaped from his cage only a few years ago. 

There were wooden benches facing up to an altar, one of the only new things that had been added since Castiel had taken the place as his home. She was wandering through the place and noticed the face on the glass windows. She stood in its lights for several minutes before she realized she wasn’t alone in the church. For a moment she wondered if Castiel had joined her, or maybe even one of the creatures outside had found the courage to step inside. But then she nearly slapped herself for being a fool, as she saw him sitting there. Castiel’s pet. Dressed in a leather jacket covering his shirts and still shivering in the breeze coursing through the chapel.

Dean saw her and froze. 

She stayed quiet, giving him a chance to calm down and waiting to see what he’d do.  
“I wasn’t trying to run.” He whispered. “I wasn’t. I just needed some space to think, that’s all.”

She didn’t answer. Allowing him to trap himself.

“And Cas… Master said I could, as long as I stayed inside, he didn’t say I couldn’t.” The defensiveness in his tone belied his certainty. Despoine wondered what the exact phrasing had been. “You can’t eat me.” The man finished, a note of defiance in his voice that belied his fear. She wanted to cuddle him, that’s how adorable he was. She couldn’t help a snicker, even if she did hide it behind her hand.

The human stared at her and backed off until he hit the wall. She didn’t approach him. His master hadn’t given over his care to her yet and she wasn’t impolite enough to touch a pet that hadn’t yet been put in her guardianship.

The pet seemed to try and grab for something that wasn’t there, hesitating, before whispering two words, one of them a name. “Cas, please.”

She could hear the sound of his wings appear before he himself did, she was proud of herself when she didn’t flinch under his presence, even if she did bow down before him.  
“My Lord, I am here as you requested.”

The god stood between her and his pet, his head tilted, his eyes piercing through her, as if he was unsure what she was doing here. Which was rich, considering he’d pretty much demanded her time. But she stood still in the face of his inspection, keeping her head bowed down, showing her respect. She couldn’t help wonder if he was just going to let her go, she could still head up to Apollo, it would only take a week for him to get his prospective pet, and she could be getting the boy into basic within the month. It’s not like she had to be here, if she didn’t respect Castiel so much, she’d have another job waiting for her in hours. And with Apollo’s pearls in exchange for a year’s work…Not that that mattered much, all that was important to her was to know that a human had found a proper home and had adjusted him or herself to their new life.

It was as if the god could read her mind, for he smiled at her and motioned at her to get to her feet. Stepping out of the way and giving her a clear view of Dean, a better one than she’d had so far. The man, a truly beautiful example of the species stood on edge, warily throwing a look at Castiel, as if making sure his master wasn’t just throwing him at her for lunch. He wore a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt covered by a green shirt. The clothes clung tightly enough to his body to give her the idea of just how well proportioned he was in general, even if they did hid more of his curves than she’d have allowed for one of her own pets. 

She asked Castiel for permission, and once he gave it, she came closer, touching the shivering pet on his chin. She nearly took a step back in awe as she did so. Oh sure, his body had been attractive enough, that was beyond a doubt, but then all pets were attractive, it was one of the primary things they were picked out for. And his heritage, creation, the notion of mixing a Vessel lineage in her own breeding program would be more than enough to get her attention to peek, regardless of what he looked like. Archangel Vessels were always strong, healthy… attractive, heaven bred them for that, just as the gods bred their pets. But the one thing that truly stunned her beyond all others, was the one thing she only grasped as she touched him and saw his essence, his soul. 

For most humans, to be touched by hell would blacken the soul to the point that it became abomination, burning and staining the soul till it became filthy and monstrous, but with Dean… it was as if someone had taken a diamond and perfected it, sharpening edges and creating layers beyond layers of essence that only enhanced what already came natural in the boy to begin with. And then, just as the soul could have either shattered or grounded to dust, he’d been touched by angelic grace that burned those edges into place, healing them to such perfection that she was almost blinded by looking at it. She stared at Castiel for a second, looking at him in wonder when she realized that the claim he had on Dean had come before his godhood, making her realize just why this human above all was Castiel’s favorite and always would be. She took a step back and pushed back all desire to be elsewhere, cause being here, would be one of the greatest things she’d ever do in her life, no matter how long into eternity it might stretch.  
Castiel placed his hand on his pet’s shoulder, and once again, the pet knelt at his master’s feet. The human was fidgeting, nervous, Despoine could imagine why, but he’d stopped trying to find a way out as soon as his master had appeared. He seemed to lean towards his master almost unconsciously, trusting Castiel to protect him. It was something she could work with, even if his posture was deplorable.

But beyond that one order, it didn’t seem like Castiel had bothered to give his pet any other instructions on how to behave. He hadn’t been disciplined for any of his behavior, hadn’t been given guidance on what he should or shouldn’t do, how was a human supposed to just … guess what his master wanted of him, if said master didn’t bother to teach them first. Humans were amongst the smarter of the natural creatures, but even their intelligence could only guide them up to a point. They weren’t gods, they didn’t even have a link to an alpha, as most creatures from purgatory did, to lean back on for advice. 

She could understand his uncertainty, with the way his master stood there still, not even acknowledging the good behavior, nor punishing the delay in response. How was a pet supposed to know he should have gone to his knees as soon as his master came in, rather than wait for said master to specifically order him, if an owner didn’t bother to tell his pet so from the start. It made her feel sorry for the human. It’s not even like the poor thing was disobeying on purpose. 

Even now, with his master next to him, she could see the warring urges in the man’s eyes and soul. This wasn’t just any human, he was a hunter, a hunter who realized all too well what a god was capable of. Not blinded by faith or fear, but frozen by knowledge. Struggling between his desire to run, fight or obey. In the end she saw him close his eyes for a moment before choosing the latter of his own volition, rather than wait for master to make a command out of it. 

The new God, Castiel, stood stiffly in front of his pet, it was as if he was as unsure about what to do with a pet, as the pet was about having a master. Despoine could see how she had her work cut out for her.

Castiel who apparently had no experience being a host, didn’t bother to show them all around the grounds, limiting himself to showing her the places she specifically asked him to see. The kitchens were currently run by the ghosts of several nuns who had died at the cloister several decades ago, and whose souls had been freed from torment by Castiel when he arrived here. They provided food for Castiel’s guests to as far as they were able to do so, but most of all, they prepared food for Dean. Then there was the laundry room, also ran by the ghosts, which didn’t seem to require much work either, since the only one here who required its service was once again Dean. In both cases Castiel told her that Dean was not allowed to provide for those things himself. By the time they got to the pool and the library, both of which were once again, only there for Dean’s sake, and not to be cared for by him. 

“I see, so you don’t want him to be a servant?”

“I have no need for servants.” Castiel answered coldly, she could imagine that, since he was still wearing the exact same clothes that he had when she’d first seen him at her parents farm. And even the empty halls of the former cloister were so spot clean that she couldn’t imagine them needing to be cared for. As for the gardens outside, they seemed to grow only according to Castiel’s desires and no inch further. None of which left any room where a pet might be needed to work, unless Castiel wanted him to.

“So do you prefer a bottom or a top for your lover?” Despoine asked.  
Dean nearly chocked at her forthrightness, but Castiel just turned to her: “I do not understand.” He said simply.

“Would you prefer your pet to provide you with anal or oral stimulation, or would you rather use his holes for your pleasure. Of course some owners prefer a mix of both, depending on the mood they’re in…”

Dean seemed on the verge of hysteria, uncertain whether to laugh or cry. Despoine herself didn’t see the problem. Most owners had pets for several reasons. Some got them for their talents, musicians and artists, who could only truly thrive under a god’s touch, she even knew some gods who got a pet for their craftsmanship or knowledge of mechanics or programming. But since Dean’s primary talent was hunting, she wasn’t sure how Castiel planned to use that talent to his own benefit with Dean locked in the building as he was. 

“I have no need for sex.”

This time it was Despoine who was left behind for a second and had to hurry to catch up. No need for, great mother of creation no wonder the new god looked as if he was about to explode. Everything needed sex, even wendigo had sex with their food and they were amongst the vilest of all of the beings belonging to purgatory. 

“So then what do you want from your pet?” Dean seemed as curious about that as Despoine was, and she couldn’t blame him, how could he be a good pet, if his owner didn’t tell him what he wanted from him. 

Castiel still stood there, staring first at Dean and then at her, before continuing down the hall, coming to an apartment that had once belonged to the priest servicing the cloister community. The apartment wasn’t that large by any stretch of the word. There was a small kitchen area as they entered the home, holding little more than a few cupboards, a refrigerator, a microwave to heat any meals when needed and a washing area to do the dishes once Dean was done. The counters were close to spotless. When they moved on, she noticed a small living room area, with a giant flat screen TV and two ill fitted couches that seemed to date back to the fifties. From the scratches in the floor and the bumps on the door, she could only imagine that Dean had dragged them in himself, because if he’d asked Castiel for them, the angel would have probably gotten him something newer and higher in quality. That and the angel wouldn’t have bothered dragging them.

She scoffed at the sight, took a look of Dean, and the way he was dressed and continued on further in the apartment. A small bedroom, with closets full of clothes, a queen sized bed, and several magazines littering the bedside tables. She didn’t even bother to open the bathroom door.

She closed her eyes and forced herself to count to a hundred before she could bring herself to turn back to her employer. She’d known the man didn’t have a clue of how to train a pet, but even he should know better than … this. 

“I want him to be obedient,” the former angel suddenly spoke up, she wondered what he was talking about for a moment, before realizing he was finally answering her question,” to follow my lead; I want him to understand that I want only for what is best, and for him to love and worship me as I am owed.”

That was not an easy request, not by far. You could demand a pet to obey you, to respect and fear you, but love… love was difficult. You couldn’t force love, you couldn’t demand it, you could only earn it.

“He needs to trust my judgment.” Castiel continued. “I will eventually allow him to leave the house by my side, but as your father showed me, he is far from ready for that..”

Well that at least she couldn’t disagree on. 

“He needs to learn to hold his tongue, and stop uttering blasphemy against my name. He needs to accept his place at my feet and to realize that I can no longer allow him to risk his life for others, for their loss is beneath his worth to me. He needs to accept that all the people of purgatory are under my protection, and that he can no longer put human lives first.”

Dean stood fidgeting, once again, he’d stayed on his feet instead of kneeling as soon as they’d stopped moving; once again he showed disrespect to his master without realizing it. But how could he know, when his master still treated him as if he was still the same man he’d been before, as if he were still the same Hunter that had once been a bane of gods and creatures alike. There was only one way to solve this problem, the only question left was how much of a fight both owner and pet were going to put up against her, as soon as she set it in motion.  
“How long do you think this will take?” She almost started laughing at the innocent sounding question, it took all the strength of her divine will to keep from doing so, in the end she turned to him and closed her eyes.

“How much freedom will you give me in this?”


	4. Chapter 4

“Cas, please, I swear I can do better, you don’t need some fucking pet whisperer to get me to behave.“

It was the first thing that came out of the pet’s mouth as soon as Castiel told her that he trusted her judgment, proving beyond a doubt how very much that the man did need her help. Taking issue with any of his master’s orders was bad enough, to do so in front of her, someone who at this point was still a stranger, that was unacceptable. 

“My Lord, …” She didn’t continue speaking, but Castiel seemed to realize he needed to allow her to take charge, stepping out of the way. The first thing she did was to get up to the man. He was over a head taller than her, but that had never mattered before, so why would it now.   
“Kneel.” She said, strict and to the point. The pet didn’t instantly respond, turning once again to his owner, hoping the god would come to his rescue. But when Castiel didn’t respond, Dean finally went to his knees. In front of her. She pushed him down till he sat on his ankles and then moved his head down to the floor. 

“Why are you here, pet? “ Dean seemed about to respond, but she didn’t let him. “You’re disobedient, impatient, you behave like feral child with no respect for rules or regulations. So why do you think you’re worthy of being your master’s pet?”

She realized she hit her target as he flinched under her words.

“Your problem, pet, is that you don’t realize just how much your master has been spoiling you. You have no understanding of what is proper, no notion of your place in the world and not a hint of a clue of what is expected from you. And it’s up to me, to make you realize the truth. “Dean seemed about ready to try to get up and protest, but she placed her foot on his shoulder, keeping him solidly in place. 

“My name is Despoine, but you shall address me as Mistress. Is that understood.” The pet opened his mouth, but she pushed his face down before he could start speaking. The pet shuddered, shivering under her gaze, and possibly scared of what she wanted from him. It took him several minutes before he realized something, his shoulders tensing up as his face turned towards his owner. 

Castiel had been observing the both of them, if she had to make a guess, she’d assume he was figuring out what she was planning to do, so it took him a moment before he even realized that his pet was trying to ask him something. It took him longer than that before he realized what that was.

Despoine almost despaired at the new god’s lack of understanding, glad that the pet at least appeared to get the point faster than his master did. 

“Answer Despoine’s question, Dean.”Castiel spoke out, finally, she quickly send him a mental prod before he continued. “ You may take her commands as my own.”

Dean gave another cringe after hearing that, while Despoine held back a smirk. She started making a mental note of all the things she had to go over with Castiel before she left, making sure that the new god didn’t ruin whatever work she spent on his pet in the first place. It wouldn’t be the first time, or the last, that such a thing would happen to her.

Dean threw her a quick glance, giving her the once over in one look and didn’t seem all that impressed. Not that Despoine cared what he thought of her appearance, he’d learn to respect her soon enough. 

“Do you understand what I just told you, Dean.”

He fell under a full body shudder before lifting his head to her, taking one more look at her face as if to check just how serious she was about this, struggling not to fight her foot’s grip on his shoulder. She let go, allowing him to get up for a few more inches before he looked away.

His gruff ,“Yes, … Mistress, “ sounded like it was dragged out of him, but for now, she was happy enough to have gotten it out of him in the first place, so she petted his head, sending waves of pleasure through his nerves as she did so, while muttering two words that she’d be reinforcing in his head over and over until he internalized their meaning.

“Good boy.” 

He blushed at the words, before realizing what she’d just said and glared at her for saying them. This time she didn’t bother to hide her smile.

She walked around the pet and looking at his pose, the imperfections of his stance, the twitching in his limbs. She could imagine that even with his reluctance, even with his feelings about her, that this was him at his best behavior, that he was trying for cooperative and obedient, and yet she could see that inside he was fighting every order, ever moment of stillness, a mere inch away from begging his master to send her away, or worse, from trying to run.

Then she turned back to the owner. “I hope you understand, my Lord, that my training methods may be different from what you are used to, that they may seem harsh, at times even cruel, but they are for your pet’s own good.” Castiel didn’t move, she didn’t let it bother her and continued.

“If possible I would like to retain at least some of your own limits, rewards and punishments whenever possible. Could you please tell me about those?” She turned to him, fighting the urge to flinch under his gaze. She would not show weakness in front of a pet, it was one rule she’d always insisted on and one she wasn’t about to break now.

“I do not understand.” Castiel said, it was a phrase she guessed he’d be saying a lot, and one she was already bored with.

“If there are things you feel I shouldn’t be allowed to do while retraining your pet, I would like to know them now, before you destroy me for doing them, … my Lord.” Despoine couldn’t help but notice that where Castiel had missed her attempt at lightening the mood, Dean had not. And he was barely keeping from rolling his eyes at her.

“You will not harm him or maim him.” The way the god looked at her, it was almost as if he’d destroy her with a simple glance if he thought she’d gone against him in this.

For a second she was about to say sure, but then she reconsidered. Harm could mean many things, and though she wouldn’t cause any pet under her care any permanent harm without their master’s permission, she would definitely be hurting the man during the course of his training.

“I will not maim him, but I’m sorry my Lord, but I cannot promise not to harm him. Not if you want me to do this right.”

Castiel glared at her, but this time she didn’t even think of flinching. She knew she was in the right on this, and she focused on sending her every thought on the matter at the former angel’s direction.

Dean seemed to notice that his master was wavering, staring at the god in shock. 

The new god glared at his pet and finally relented . “Then you will not cause him any more pain and suffering than is needed.” 

“What the fuck, Cas?” The pet actually started getting up, but Castiel stopped him with one word, the pet’s name: ‘Dean’. Despoine wondered what it was that the god held over his pet, that even now, a former hunter like Dean would submit at the mere mention of his name. 

Despoine continued on, still a bit shaken at the intensity in Castiel as he’d even thought that his pet was being threatened. Quickly going through specific rules, the amounts of times Castiel thought he’d be present, needed conversations with him and the time he could set aside for that. But even as she was speaking to Castiel she couldn’t help throwing quick looks at the god’s pet instead of its owner.

All through this, Dean seemed to be torn between begging for his master’s protection and the urge to tell the god that he could take care of himself. It was odd that even though she’d only just met the pet, and she hadn’t even given him his symbiote yet, his body language was that easy to read. And though she knew she’d have to work on that, part of her almost regretted having to remove the honesty of the pet’s body. 

“Anything else I should know. “ she finally asked, more in an attempt to distract herself from looking at the pet, who even on his knees, head bowed down and listening while his master and trainer discussed his immediate future, still managed to look defiant. She knew she should tell Castiel he should punish his pet for speaking up like that, but somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not quite yet. 

“No.” Castiel answered neatly, hesitating. “If he misbehaves, you may refuse him the use of the chalice of Ruth.”

Dean spooked on hearing that, talking again. “Cas, you promised.” He said before remembering himself and shutting up, not even bothering to look at his master and beg him otherwise. 

Despoine had heard of the chalice, when set properly, the chalice would allow the user to focus it’s sight on particular humans anywhere in the world. Her uncle had been looking for it for ages. It made her wonder whom the pet thought was important enough to want to follow their exploits outside in the wild. It almost made her jump up when Castiel finally for the first time, disciplined his pet. Despoine didn’t know what It was he did exactly, but she saw him shape his hand into a fist and she stared as Dean nearly fell over in pain in response. 

“Silence!” Dean quickly shut up, bowing down his head, cringing and trying to make himself as small as possible. Despoine hated to see a pet quake in fear, but she couldn’t say that he hadn’t earned it.

“I have been patient, Dean. I know this is difficult for you. But you will not disrespect me.”

Dean stared at Castiel.

“If you think you are unable to handle this, you may leave at any time. But if our bargain means anything for you, you will do exactly as Despoine tells you and you will show me respect. Is that clear?”

Dean flinched but did not move, nor did he try to leave. He didn’t even speak up when Castiel told her that Dean would not be allowed to use the chalice for the next week. Despoine almost cheered at the sight of Castiel finally standing up for himself as Dean’s owner. She didn’t though, instead she stayed her respectful self and turned back to him.

“I’m sorry to presume, but you told my father that this is the first pet you’ve owned.”

Castiel glared at her, but Despoine didn’t let that stop her.

“One of the first rules of being a good pet owner, sir, is to set clear and strict boundaries, so the pet knows what is expected of them. You cannot possibly expect your pet to behave if they don’t know what you want of them in the first place.” Castiel was still glaring, and Despoine stopped herself from responding to it by keeping in mind a constant refrain of ‘baby steps’

Castiel seemed befuddled by her lack of response. Whereas Dean seemed to be hinging between a hysterical giggle and utter outrage. 

“You say that you want him to accept ‘his place’, but what have you done so far to explain what that means.”

And once again Castiel looked at her in stunned shock as if unable to understand why she could possibly be criticizing him, for anything. “You cannot expect him to understand what his place is, if you don’t make it clear to him and show him, just what that means. He may be a fine example of the species, my lord, but he still remains, only human and they are raised with many weird and wrongful ideas for most of their life.”

“How would you suggest going about that?” 

She looked around the room, at the bed, the bookcases, the television and other entertainment spread around. Focusing a good long time on the mirrors and pictures surrounding the area, before turning her attention back to the pet.

“Taking off those clothes would be a nice start.”

The man’s mouth almost fell open in shock. 

“Why?” Cas looked at his pet’s clothing, she could see him wonder what was wrong with them. Despoine doubted he’d ever even imagined what his pet looked like without his clothes on. Castiel had told her he wasn’t interested in sex, she wondered if it was simply because he’d never bothered to have sex in the first place.

“I’m guessing that the clothes are part of his old life, part of the Hunter he used to be?” She looked at Castiel for confirmation before continuing.”But he’s not that man anymore. And he can’t shed that old life as long as he clings to the illusion that things are still the same as they were, that he is still the being he was before he became yours. “ Castiel looked over his pet and seemed to be searching for something. She let him before returning her attention to the pet.

“Dean.” She saw the man shiver. “Undress.”

Dean lifted his head, freezing under his master’s eyes before slowly sitting up and removing his Jacket, folding it up before putting it on the floor. She could see he wanted to hang it up, but didn’t dare do so, risking his master’s anger. Then he slipped out of his over shirt, throwing it away, before dragging his t-shirt over his head. She could see a shiver pass over his chest as he hesitated a second before he pulled his feet out from under his ass to remove first his shoes and then his socks adding them to the puddle of discarded clothes beside him, close enough for him to grab them back if he tried. It seemed to take forever, even though in real time it lasted not even a minute, before he opened up his pants, slowly pushing them down his legs. 

He froze up at his underwear, silently begging his master, but luckily Castiel didn’t give in, well that or the new god didn’t have a clue what his pet was asking for in the first place.   
She got that the pet was embarrassed, but she couldn’t see the use of encouraging his sense of shame. By the time she was finished with him, there wouldn’t be an inch of his body that she hadn’t seen, touched or in some way gotten involved with, so why bother coddling him and pretending that he could hang on to his modesty. It was always best to rip off the bandage as soon as possible and make things clear right from the start.

As soon as the boxers dropped to the floor with the rest of the clothes she snapped her fingers, destroying the clothes before his eyes by setting them on fire, she was about to do the same to the jacket when she saw him pull out of position, throwing himself on the jacket before she could do so . “Please, Cas, please.” He kept repeating the words, tears filling his eyes. She snapped again, and the clothes in the closets vanished as well, ready and packed to be sent to a charity of some kind. 

Dean just stared at his now empty cupboards, he didn’t speak, though his mouth wibbled, showing his utter shock, still clinging on to the jacket in his hands. 

“Clothes are a privilege,” She said, while walking around him, “when, or if, you earn the right to wear any, they will be chosen for you by your master.” Even though she did pray that Castiel would gain some sense of style by then. If not, she’d have to make him let her buy whatever Dean might need. Just a matter of professional pride after all.

“Give me the jacket.” Dean was shivering, barely daring to look at her, his eyes focused on the jacket, tears dripping on the leather. “Give me the jacket or I’ll burn it in your hands.”

Dean once again turned to Castiel, almost as if he was about to plead, but then he finally closed his eyes and held out the jacket towards her. She accepted it and placed her hand on his head., gentle now, even if she would have to discipline him for this later. She looked at the jacket, feeling the emotional resonance inside the leather, pain, love, home, … She placed it on the table, before making it disappear along with the furniture, decoration and any form of entertainment that had filled the room before.

With Dean properly undressed, she took the time to inspect his body, looking specifically for flaws and imperfections. What surprised her most was the lack of scars. Dean had been a Hunter, one with a strong reputation of going up against beings far above his own nature. He should have been full of remnants of battles that by any right should have killed him. But instead, aside of a single tattoo on his chest, a series of carvings on his ribs, and his master’s mark on his arm, his body was as untouched as that of an infant. 

The pet was muscular, nicely proportional, and symmetric in face and body. His eyes a deep green and his face and body covered in freckles. The only imperfection she could find was a slight malformation of his legs, but rather than detract, the simple flaw added to his beauty instead. Looking at him, if she’d seen him on the street even ten years earlier, she would have arranged with her uncle to obtain him for her own breeding stock. Strong and invulnerable as hunters liked to think themselves, she’d found a long time ago, that their lack of structure and connections, made it easier than usual to fake their deaths and bring them in the fold. It was almost a pity that the boy had been forced to stay in the wild for as long as he had.

His position was terrible of course, but as good as one could expect from an untrained pet. She tugged her hand through his hair, removing the gel with her touch. All it needed was to be grown out a bit. 

She moved her hand on his neck, and a piece of her symbiote slipped loose, forming a new entity, climbing down her fingers and onto the pet. The poor thing had to be prodded a bit before letting go of its progenitor and crawling over to Dean. She could see that Dean felt the symbiote climb along his neck as it felt its way around him, shaping itself as little more than an inch thin cord.

Dean’s hands tensed up as if he wanted to reach for it, but didn’t quite dare while she and his master were watching. Then the symbiote bit in, attaching itself to Dean’s nervous system and Dean’s scream pierced through the room.

The next thing she knew, Castiel was holding her up by her throat. “Get that thing off of him.” The words were spoken, barely above a hush, but the threat in them was cold hard steel.

“It’s harmless,” she tried to say, but he was cutting off her air, so instead she send him images about the symbiotes, how they were created, what they served for. Castiel dropped her to the floor and turned to his pet instead, kneeling by his side and holding his hand on the man’s head. Dean’s screams turned into whimpering and Dean fell in his master’s arms without even realizing what he was doing. Castiel just sat there, his hand patting Dean’s shoulder in a way that looked as if he was copying something that he’d seen other people do. 

Despoine managed to pull herself from the floor, trying to regain her balance, her breath. She wasn’t sure what Castiel had done to her, but it was more than just the physical attack, his grace had turned on her power as a goddess as well as the body that carried her. 

Tears were falling from Dean’s eyes, still suffering under waves of pain as the symbiote explored his nervous system, leaving behind parts of its essence throughout the man’s body. In less than a minute the bond would be permanent. The creature would rely on Dean’s blood for sustenance and keep him healthy and vibrant for the remainder of his life in return. Once the bond was complete, there would be no way to remove it, because doing so would kill both host and symbiote. From now on, the symbiote would be her bond to Dean, and once she was finished, she would transfer that bond to Castiel. The symbiote would tell her of Dean’s needs, give her an idea of his wants, even the ones he wouldn’t dare admit to her, and it would help her teach him to obey even when his own instincts fought against it. 

When the last throbs of pain died out, Dean crawled back up defiantly pulling himself away from Castiel’s touch as if he needed to pull himself together again, refusing to accept kindness and concern in a way that anyone might see. It was another bad habit she’d have to train out of him. Oh he might pretend to be ‘obedient’, kneeling beside them, head kept low, but his eyes darted around the now empty room. As if he had to find a way to make up for showing himself as weak by playing up the Hunter inside of him.

She’d pushed all the furniture into one of the many empty rooms of the cloisters, the things would be safe there until Dean was ready for them to return. Leaving his jacket folded inside one of the shelves. She snapped her finger once more, bringing in the only item of furniture Dean’s room would need for the remainder of this first step of training.

Dean stared at it for a moment, eying the large metal crate with a clear sense of weariness as if expecting something to come out of it. She wasn’t sure if he’d even realized its true purpose. 

“Get up, take a closer look.” Dean stared at her for a moment before pushing himself up from the floor and heading to the crate. It looked like a large metal cage, high enough for a human to comfortably sit up, but not nearly enough for him to stand up on his feet while in it. It was broad enough to sit with stretched legs, but if he wanted to lie down, he’d have to bend himself to do so. It was a good way to teach him to be small, to take up as little space as possible.

Dean didn’t get in, his hand moved over the cage, touching the two bottles on the side. The water bottle on the left, and the feeder on the right, staring at the mattress at the bottom of the cage. 

“Was the room not suitable?” She hadn’t even noticed that Castiel had moved back at her side.

It’s then that Dean seemed to have realized what the crate was meant for, taking a step back from the bars as if they were boiling hot. He turned back to them. “No way. Cas, please, you can’t let her do this.” Dean, stared at his master, clearly expecting him to change things back. “I’m not a freaking hamster, Cas, please.”

But Castiel was focused on her now, instead of on his pet. 

“He needs to learn that privileges are earned. That any luxury he gets is a gift, a reward for proper behavior. Allowing him to expect certain… indulgencies as normal, is allowing him to set the pace instead of yourself.”

“You…” Dean was about to attack her, she didn’t even move.

The symbiote froze in his veins, locking his tongue to the bottom of his mouth, bringing him to his knees again. “Your master ordered silence, pet. Keep misbehaving and you’ll lose the privilege of your name as well.”Dean was trembling, as if his body was fighting the symbiote’s hold of him.

“May I have the use of any other rooms?” she asked Castiel, ignoring the pet in favor of his owner. 

Castiel’s entire focus was on Dean, but he nodded. “I left this building standing for Dean’s sake, you may use any part of it for his instruction.”

She tried to remember any of the other parts of the cloister that Castiel had shown her, the empty cells once used by the nuns, what had once been the dining room, the offices of the mother supreme, the rectory, what was left of what once had been a grand library. There were many things she could do with all that space and she thanked Castiel quietly for giving her that much at least.

Deciding to use the dining room for the primary training grounds she quickly cataloged what books would be useful for Dean to read. Instructions on how to be a pet, the essence of obedience, the true meaning of submission. She would bring them with her when she returned, it’s not like she didn’t have the time, considering that only one day passed on the grounds for every week in the outside world.

“Come pet, let’s put you to bed so I can talk to your owner.” Dean was walking up to the crate and crawling in before he even realized what he was doing, his face filling with his unspoken horror as he realized what was happening. She could see it in his eyes, though the grumbling was a clearer hint. 

She ignored it and closed the crate, fusing it shut, the lock fading away as she did so. “Sleep sweetie, it’ll be a long long day tomorrow.” But she didn’t expect him to do so, the day was not even half over. It didn’t matter to her, let him be bored, it would only teach him to trust her judgment in the future.

She opened the built in closet and pulled out the bag of pet food she’d pulled into the room along with the crate. Dean glared at her when she filled the feeder with the brownish sludge, but she ignored it, moving on to filling his water bottle instead. She wondered how long it would take Dean to realize that the only way to get any food or water out of either of the bottles, was by a combination of forcing his lips around the metal feeding tube shaped like a hollow dildo, and sucking it as if he were sucking a cock and forcing his tongue along the crack in order to force it to release its bounty. She’d known far too many pet owners who started out not wanting sex and then ended up changing their mind afterwards; and it could never hurt to get Dean started on the right path. 

“Don’t worry, Dean, I’ve been told that it tastes much better than it looks. Now be a good pet and make sure that the feeder is at least halfway empty by the time I get back tomorrow.”

Then she left the room, making Castiel follow after her like a lost puppy. Honestly, if this job went anything like she thought it would, she was going to have to train him even more intensively, than she had to train his pet. She hoped he’d be at least willing to try.  
Looking at the former angel turned god, she figured that the pet would be the easier of the two.


	5. Chapter 5

She’d had almost a week to prepare herself, deciding how to make her first move with Dean on her own. What kind of words, actions would help her best in getting the right effect. She slipped in and out of the cloister over the course of the next week, bringing in her tools and preparing the rooms to her needs. By the time she was done, They were still at nightfall of the first day. She decided to take one last look of Dean before leaving him to the night. He never even realized she was there. The room looked dark, she’d turned off the light when she left and the light coming in through the window had faded away hours ago. 

The crate stood in the middle of what had been the living room and Dean was curled up in the corner, sitting with his back against the bars, his legs bent in front of him. He was shaking and she mentally increased the temperature in the room, she’d slowly decrease the temperature over the course of the next months, but for now it was best not to make the adjustment too big for his body to handle.

She stood there quietly watching him for another hour. In that time he finally moved up to the water bottle, kneeling in front of it. He placed his hands on the dildo at first, trying to push out a bit of water, getting annoyed with the lack of give until he finally put his mouth over the tube. The water was halfway gone, the feeder bottle on the other hand was still as full as it had been when she left. She sent the emotion of hunger to the symbiote and it tingled for a moment before working in on Dean. Shortly afterwards his stomach started rumbling, but he still didn’t move to the feeder bottle. The silly boy was actively fighting his hunger rather than take advantage of the food available to him.

She would let him, if he hadn’t eaten by the time she came back… well then there were ways to force him to feed, whether he liked it or not.

When she came home, mother just offered her a plate, warmed mere minutes before she’d arrived. Demeter didn’t need words to make clear what she expected from her, ordering her to sit down with a look at the chair.

Despoine danced around the meat, eating the vegetables and pasta before she even came near it. But eventually, once it was all that was left, she bit in and let the remnants of its soul slip into her mind. There was love there, a father’s love and pride for his children. A gentle hand as he held their hand while teaching them to walk, go to school, live their live. She could taste his hope for their futures, it almost brought a tear to her eyes.  
“Oh Despoine, you care for humans far too much.”

“Can you blame me?”

Mom shook her head and pushed a plate of pudding her way. “I’m guessing you’re going to be spending a lot of time at Castiel’s home?” 

Despoine didn’t bother to correct her on the purpose of the place, focusing instead on fully embracing the soul sacrificed for their needs. Feeling the love slip into horror, as the man came into his employer’s office, sitting down on the chair in front of the desk. Being told he was given a promotion, but he’d have to move to the firm’s other office at the other side of the country.

The man had agreed without a second thought, asking when he was expected to leave, spending the next few weeks preparing the move and convincing his wife that it was a good thing, while apologizing for agreeing before asking her first. Then the gift. Larry, that had been his name, Larry should have noticed that something was up when his employer had refused to meet his eyes when he gave him his going away gift, a set of tickets for Disney world and a gorgeous watch, with strange symbols on the back. The man had been staring at the watch the entire time, telling him to be careful with the watch, not to lose it, making it clear that it was best to wait with putting it on until after they got out of Disneyworld, couldn’t risk it falling and breaking.

Saying goodbye to their friends, ignoring the call his wife made to her estranged mother. Stepping into the car, he hadn’t put the watch on his hand until they were ready to leave Disneyworld, after all, no need to remind himself of work until he had to. Watching his daughter’s glare at him for making her do something this childish and then… nothing.

He barely even remembered stepping into the car, ordering his family back in as well. He heard his son’s begging him to return because he’d forgotten the dog. His wife had kept asking him what was wrong and then… the portal, glimmering on the highway in front of him, his wife, Rosey, had screamed, but he’d just driven on, his hands on the wheel, his feet on the pedal, but his mind, frozen and unable to stop him from doing whatever he was doing.

Instead he’d driven on and on until they’d gotten into a busy town’s street. Despoine recognized the market, could see its bright colors opening up, until the car drove up to the store. There were several more cars lined up, each of them driving on until they stood in a reflection of the symbol on the watch. And by then it had been too late, far too late for any of them.

They had all stepped out of the car, their bodies moving on without their minds input, Rosey picking up the baby in her hands, placing it down on the floor beside her, before taking off her clothes. She was already naked by the time that Larry had realized he was undressing as well, along with their older children. 

Men came up to them, Hades and one of his sons, drawing the Paidopagis on their chests before sending them on to the showers, feeling the water descending on them, even then his mind had wondered why there wasn’t any soap, just some kind of disinfectant. They were separated, called words like pet, meat, labor. Larry and his family were all pushed towards the meat group, only his daughter, his sweet rebellious girl, his Becca was turned around and around, while the man, Hades, had touched her breasts, making her open her leg while he felt between them. Becca had been taken away, and all he’d been able to do was stare as she was placed in a cage, along with a few other boys and girls of various ages, none of them protesting even a single one of the things done to them.

They’d been told to move and he had, his son mere inches away from him, and yet unable to even touch the boy to offer him comfort. Not even allowed to look back and wonder what was happening to the baby. 

They were placed in the store and then the true horror started, people prodding them and making him open his mouth as they looked at his teeth, feeling his skin pinched and tested, his thick belly prodded , his fatrolls lifted and inspected. And then his mouth opened, and words came out of his lips. Talking about how good and fat his son was, how much meat there was on the boy’s body. How sweet the boy would taste on their lips. He’d wanted to scream, but all he could do was smile and talk, advertising his own and his son’s flesh. Rosey was the first of them that was taken, and he'd just stood there and talked about the rich taste of their boy's body, as the butcher ordered her forward and she knelt down, as the man’s knife cut down in her throat, pushing her body into a box.

Tears dripping down from his eyes as his son was picked up and carved up in front of him, smelling the roasting flesh of the boy’s body when the buyer came back to pick up his meat. And finally, merciful death, hoping that his daughter would join them soon, because at least then she’d be free.

Despoine finished her pudding, the last of the soul slipping from her and into rebirth. “New arrivals?” was all she said. 

“Your uncle made a deal with a man over in Missouri, he sacrificed five families in exchange for his continued prosperity. Hades made a pretty good deal out of it.”

Despoine licked her lips and wondered. “Any new pets out of it?”

“A few, not too many, most of them were your typical overweight Americans, thank Zeus for childhood obesity.” Her mother had never approved of picking the lowest of the litter for pets, If you wanted a good pet in her mind, you either bred them yourself, or you handpicked a human in the wild. “I got you one of the girls, figured you could use an extra hand to take care of the house while you’re staying over at Castiel’s place.”

“Untrained?”

“Well it’s not like you’re expecting her to do more than pick up after Ani and keep the place spotless. Even I could train a human to do that much.”

The girl was waiting for her in the hall, looking small and vulnerable inside the cage. Despoine recognized her instantly from the meat’s memories. The girl, Becca, stared at her in horror when she washed the Paidopagis off of her chest, allowing an opportunity to cry and scream. But the girl kept silent, let Despoine take her hand as they moved on to the apartments. “It’ll be fine, Becca, you’re safe now.” Becca curled up in the corner looking like nothing as much than a broken bird, just waiting to die. Despoine touched her, feeling the child’s horror and left, leaving Darla to deal with orders while she went off to work and prepare. Wondering why this mattered so much to her, when really she should be teaching the girl at least the basics.

The girl was still on her mind when Despoine returned to Castiel’s pet the next morning, as she found him curled up on the floor of the crate, one leg still resting against the bars. She checked the feeder bottle, noticing it was still full, she sent another wave of hunger at the symbiote, hoping to raise the boy’s hunger by the time he woke up. Dean was squirming in his sleep, his hand forming a fist, while his legs were tensed as if he was fighting some kind of restraint. She could feel the fear radiating from his mind, following the images inside his head and finding herself in a place of darkness and pain. It took her some time to recognize it as hell, a dark reflection of what had once been Hades domain before the soul hoarders had used it as their cage. It startled her to find how similar emotionally, this hell was to the memories of the soul she still felt lingering in her mind.

There was a being, a demon beside him, leaning over Dean as he lay bound on a rack, laid open as the demon cut into his limbs. She couldn’t quite hear the demon’s whispers, but the look on Dean’s face spoke of endless terror. She took a step forward when he saw her, his struggles against the hooks holding him in place increasing as if trying to get away from her as well as from the demon. She had to force herself out of his head, petting his skin through the bars of the cage. He spooked up as he woke under her touch, scooting away from her to the other side of the crate. She let him, considering the nightmare she’d just walked in on, it was understandable that he was upset. 

She wished she could give him a blanket or even a pillow, but it would be too soon for that. He needed to learn base state for a pet. She watched him for a few minutes before moving back to the kitchen unit, filling a can with water and replacing the water. He was eying the feeder bottle and she sent through one last message of hunger through the symbiote. This time he finally gave in, his mind too vulnerable to resist the pull of the food.

His reflection faced her in the bottle as he placed his lips around the feeder tube. She could imagine his tongue caressing the dildo, desperately trying to push out some of the food. She left him to it, and by the time she turned back to him, he’d at least eaten something.  
She decided not to punish him for his refusal to eat earlier. The thing about training a pet was that you allowed a pet some time to adjust, and it would be quite a while before Dean could be expected to get to the point of being obedient in such small matters even when he didn’t know his master was watching.

No, she could start with the basics.

What a pet had a right to as compared to the privileges that an owner could bestow upon a pet. When a pet didn’t know the first, how could you hope for them to understand the second? And it was only when they understood that, that you could get them to understand the basic points of discipline.

Mother had always been clear on the subject, telling her and her brothers and sisters that a pet has five rights that must be respected, no doubt, no hesitation and if you decided to ignore those rights, you might as well kill them right off and eat them, it’d be kinder and have more of a result. 

The first and primary right of a pet, was a clear knowledge of boundaries. If you didn’t bother to let a pet know the rules, then how could they be expected to follow them. To change the rules on a whim, was like making your pet walk through a minefield, not just once, but for every second of their life. Fear might be a useful tool when handled with restraint, but it was an instrument of torture when it came without the relief of knowing there was a way out.

The second right of a pet was a series of physical demands. Human pets were mortal, material beings, so naturally this second right was as essential to their survival as the need for rules was. Food, water, sex, bowel cleansings, a regular amount of sleep. All these were needed to sustain the pet’s body, leave out even one of them and the pet would eventually break down.  
Third but not any less important was the right for a place to rest. Not just sleep, but a place that the pet could call their own, a home base where they could be free with their emotions and be allowed to release their stress. Humans were emotional beings and to force them on guard at all times was once again cruel and could only lead to depression. 

The fourth could be delayed, but never forgotten, a pet had the right to be cared for when sick. To neglect a pet in this need was once again cruel and went in against a God’s very nature. It was up to an owner if they would do the effort to nurse a pet back to good health, but if a god wasn’t going to do that effort, then their owner had the duty to make their suffering as short as possible and end their pain.

And last of all, a pet had a right to attention. To leave a pet in the dark, alone for longer than was needed to break or train them, was up there with ignoring their physical needs. Aside of physical and mortal, humans were social creatures, depending on regular touch and company to keep them from catatonia and madness…

She held a leash in her hands. He looked up at her, and sank back against the bars, it seemed he was looking behind her, probably waiting for his owner to show up as well. Castiel unfortunately was busy talking to the Council of gods, handling the last parts of their deal with him. His presence could not be counted on. It was regretful, even if Despoine did understand it.

She brushed the leash up against the bars, letting it slide right up to the crate. He was unconsciously pulling away from it when he suddenly stopped, looking at her.   
“It’s yours sweetie.”

She could see the pet swallow, the symbiote meanwhile thickened around his throat, forming itself into a collar. It would be up to Castiel to see if he’d ever get Dean a real collar, but until then the symbiote would do. 

She opened the crate and waited.

A minute later they were both still respectively standing and sitting in the same place. He was the one to break the silence first.

“Look, I’m trying my best here, Mistress, but what the fuck do you want me to do.” Dean finally spat out. His annoyance winning out on his best attempts to keep quiet. 

She smiled, glad that his refusal to come out had come from his lack of training, rather than blatant disobedience. He glared for a second before gaining control over himself. She watched the struggle, the tenseness in his shoulders building up as he formed his hands into fists. He still stayed put though. 

“Come out, dear boy.” He stared at her for a second as if he couldn’t quite believe what she was saying, before crawling forward, nearly hitting his head against the bars as he left the crate, hesitated a second and then knelt in front of her. She patted his back and corrected his position. 

“You didn’t eat.” She mentioned, slapping the leash on her hand, curious to see what he’d say, if he’d try and correct her, if he’d try and defend himself.

“I don’t see you eating out of some big honking cock.” He whispered, before slamming his mouth shut.

She knelt beside him and pushed his chin up, forcing him to face her. “But I’m not a pet, Dean,” she brushed her hand over his cheek, scratching him behind his ear, “You are. And you, boy,” she came closer, ”need to eat.”

“I did.” He grumbled. 

“Did you.”

“I did alright, I just couldn’t…” The pet blushed, staring at the feeder.

She placed her foot between his legs, pushing up against his dick and watched him wince.

“This is your last chance for the day, Dean. If you don’t eat now, you won’t be fed till evening, and I can promise you now, you will need every bit of energy you can get to last till then.” Dean shivered. She let his hand rest on his shoulder, pushing his chin further up, making him look up at her breasts. “And you know your master would be worried if you didn’t eat.”

“Can’t I just have a burger.”

She crunched her lips, closed her eyes and fought the urge to laugh. The poor boy was adorable. So spoiled by trying to live out in the wild, she wished she could go back in time and punish whomever had allowed him to get into a habit of eating junk food. But then, that was just another sign of humans’ lack of ability to look after themselves.

What other sentient species would smoke things that they knew wrecked their lungs? What other species ruined their stomach, heart and kidneys with fattening sugary crap, knowing it was bad for them, fully aware it was killing them and still they kept on chewing and slugging through it as if tomorrow would never come? And don’t even get her started on alcohol. Castiel had mentioned how he’d cleansed Dean’s body of every drop of booze the boy had ingested since he was fifteen; when she introduced him to the basic food groups for human pets, or more exactly the do’s and don’ts of feeding a human pet. She was glad he had, because otherwise she would have had to waste the next few weeks on getting the poor thing dry, before she could even begin on his real training. Humans…

Vampires as stupid as they might be otherwise at least had the common sense to stay away from Dead Man’s blood, whereas humans constantly courted death with their every choice, proving they were never meant to be free in the first place. What other race would be crazy enough to stack themselves up in a metal tube, propelled by nothing but a bunch of engines, shot up in the sky and expect to cross an ocean safely. No sane god would rely on anything that flimsy, yet humans did it constantly… They’d never quite been able to determine if it was bravery, stupidity, a complete lack of common sense or a mix of all three.

She pulled the feeder off of the crate and held it in front of him. He sat before her, kneeling, his neck stretched out as he leaned up to her and wrapped his lips around the feeder, working his tongue, lips and throat to get the food out. She could see he still didn’t like it, but that only made his willingness to go along with her more valuable. He really was a sweet boy. If Castiel hadn’t already claimed him, she would have loved to pick him up for herself. It actually spoke well of the new god that he could so clearly recognize the human’s need to be cared for. Far too many of the gods she knew only saw humans as food, or fuel source, it was just such a waste.

Under her eyes, Dean still didn’t eat much, but it was good to see him trying. When he let go of the bottle, he stayed on his knees, licking his lips. As she put the feeder back on the cage, he went to the water bottle, put the tube to his mouth and took a couple of gulps of water. She gave him time, wondering how long it would take before Castiel changed his mind and asked his pet to be trained for sexual duties as well. She hoped it’d be before Dean got too much further in his training. She couldn’t start mixing the pet’s feed with his master’s sperm to get him used to the taste, as long as Castiel didn’t realize it would be needed.. 

Owners could deny it all they wanted, but there was nothing more annoying than to have your pet spit out your sperm after giving you a blowjob, just because the taste felt off. Best to get them used to the taste, get them to associate it with good things, like warmth, a full belly, the satisfaction of a good meal. Either way, it was a good thing that Dean at least wasn’t fighting her on the water bottle. The amount of times she’d seen an owner allowing their pet to drink out of their own glasses or chalices, instead of making them drink from either their owner’s lips or the water their owner poured down for them was enough to worry her for the next ten generations of pets.

Not that she minded pets having their own property, you couldn’t take away a privilege that you didn’t give them in the first place, but there were limitations to what a pet should be allowed to see as theirs, over what their owner allowed them to use.

Castiel for all his flaws and … issues, at least had the sense to follow her more advanced experience on the matter. 

She eyed the way Dean’s lips shut around the water tube, sliding the fluids down his throat, his face lifted up in the appropriate position for a pet. He was fidgeting, showing another need, but she didn’t see the need to hurry to let him fill it, waiting for him to finish his bottle and ordering him to continue doing so, before moving on.

She clapped her hands, pulling his attention, while holding out the leash. This time he didn’t hesitate, instead he crawled out and knelt at her feet again, placing his hands on his crotch as if defending it from her touch. She gently pushed her foot against his hands, forcing them out of the way. She slipped her fingers over his chest, her nails scratching his left nipple, making him wince. Her other hand moved first his right arm, then his left arm behind his back guiding each hand to hold the opposite elbow, then she slipped a cuff around his forearms as training to teach him where they belonged. She spread his legs a few inches further, her right hand nails scratching along his thigh, grabbing hold of his dick that was now easily accessible. His ass was resting on his heels, she knew that if she pushed him over in this position, his ass would rise up in the air and give her easy access if she needed it. Perfect. She left him sitting in that position for a few more minutes, before ordering the symbiote to bring him closer, his neck moving to her free hand, she clicked the leash to the ring the symbiote formed for her and left the leash attached to the symbiote, a tighter lock than leather and metal could ever be. 

“Do you need anything else?” knowing exactly what he would be needing, but wanting him to ask for it first.

He looked away from her for a moment, flinching, his dick slightly hardened under her touch, no matter how clearly he didn’t want it to, before muttering. “I need to go.”

She let go of his dick and stood up, once again pushing one of her feet up against his genitals.  
“Go where?” she asked as if she didn’t already know. The look in his eyes made it clear she wasn’t fooling anyone.

“The toilet ok, I need to pee.” She petted him on the head for admitting it, even if he’d once again forgotten to speak to her in the proper manner. “Please mistress.” He quickly added, as if finally realizing he’d been missing something.

She instantly rewarded him with another pat on the head, the leash hanging loosely over his nipple.

“Good boy.” She whispered the word as she brushed his hair. “You may not always be allowed to void your wastes, after all, it is your master’s needs that come first, but when given the chance, you should always try and make sure you have all your needs met, so they won’t bother your owner at a less convenient time. Do you understand that, Dean?”

He didn’t answer.

“Answer me, pet.”

“Yes, mistress.”

And even though his pronunciation of the word mistress came out more as a curse than an expression of respect, she still smiled at him saying it. Respect would come later, after the form. After all, she’d dealt with pets that had taken weeks if not months before they gave in and called her by the proper name, Dean did so from the very first day. So she smiled at him and said:“Good boy,” watching him cringe as she did so. It only made her feel more right.

He was staring at the bathroom door, not yet realizing that it was gone along with everything behind it. She didn’t really mind toilets, once a pet was trained, they could save a lot of time on the proper care of a pet at home. But not yet, not this early in the game. 

Instead she went up to the kitchen and pulled a canister out from one of the cupboards, noticing that he hadn’t moved out of position, even as there was some twitching in his legs, good. She knelt next to him, stroking his thighs, scratching the itch, and then grabbed his dick aiming it at the canister. She could feel him flinch, his breathing sped up. “you said you needed to pee, Dean. This is your last chance until noon. I’d advise you to take it.”

The pet shivered, it took him another few minutes before he allowed himself to give in to his body’s needs. When he was finished she wiped his dick clean. He was breathing harshly and she scratched his balls before getting up to her feet, cleaning her hands on a tissue, emptying the canister into the sink.

She could feel his eyes glaring at her back, oh she could have turned around and caught him at it, but why bother. Instead she turned to him, her voice soft and tender. “Is something wrong, Dean?” 

“I could have done that without your ‘help’” he blurted out, too angry to speak with two words. She felt the rage behind his eyes, behind his words, behind every part of his body, rage barely contained by his desire to hold in, to do as told, to be what Castiel wanted him to be. No matter how hard it was.

“Dean, do you know what I’m trying to do here?”she said, without bothering to look at him.

“Turn me into a lapdog for Cas?” 

She chuckled, but lifted her eyebrows.

“Teach me how to obey Cas orders?” he tried again.

“That’s part of it,” she washed her hands and continued, “yes, but my primary purpose is to teach you to let go of control, to teach you how to allow yourself to be cared for, to let go of your own desires and needs and be free of any responsibility, beyond those your owner gives you.”

Dean shook away from her, desperately trying to get to his feet , his eyes flitting around, as if looking for a way out. She grabbed his by the shoulder, holding him in place, and caressed his neck to calm him down. If she let him get up now, she’d have to punish him and that was the last thing he needed right now.“You need to trust me, Dean, to trust that your owner wants what is best for both of you. To trust him with your health, your wellbeing and yourself. Part of that is that you need to let go of the idea that that body you are in is yours. It isn’t, not anymore. It belongs to Castiel now, he just allows you to use it. “

“I know! Alright, I know I gave myself to him, I know I no longer have a say, that I’m just his pet, just his toy, his whatever the hell he wants me to be!” 

She felt the anger rise out of him, even if it was forced down almost right away. She kept caressing his neck, her hand moving down to his nipples, loving how sensitive they were, how they sent messages almost straight down to his dick.

“You may know it, pet, but you don’t feel it, not yet. And until you do, you won’t be allowed to touch yourself.”

That made him look up.

“And yes that includes your needs to urinate or release fecal matter. Which mentioning it, do you …”

“No, god no.” He was shivering and she decided not to push the matter, he probably wouldn’t need to go for at least a few more hours. And if he did, well that was a lesson for the next time he decided he'd rather hold in than use the opportunity when given.

“Good, I will take you to void your bowels after your morning training then.” He stared at her in full out fear by that point. 

“Let’s start on endurance. Follow me.” She held on to his leash and went towards the door. Dean, surprised by her sudden movement, nearly fell over and was almost dragged across the floor before he managed to get to his feet.

“The first rule,” she said as she opened the door and gave him a chance to properly follow her, “is to be prepared to get up at a second’s notice, to always keep an eye on the one holding your leash to see when she, or he, will leave. This gives you a moment to prepare and get to your feet gracefully.”

"Hard to be graceful with no arms and being pulled by your neck!"He grumbled quietly. 

“That’s because you’re not thinking right.”

He stared at her as if she were insane.

“You’re still trying to think like a Hunter, instead of a pet. A pet doesn’t need his hands to balance, a pet can be graceful, no matter what’s demanded of them. A pet serves and is ready to serve, always.”

She went into the hall and waited for him to follow before locking the door of the apartment.   
“When you walk on a leash, you make sure you’re always two steps behind me, this gives you the chance to stop when I stop, without bumping into me. You do not run, you adjust your speed to mine. And most of all, you let me take the lead. Don’t look at your surroundings, look at me, and I will guide you where you are meant to be.” She stopped her instruction and started her way through the cloister halls, slipping through the kitchen, along the laundry room and through the library, before returning along their track and finally heading to the training room.

Dean had seemed to hesitate a few times, possibly because he’d noticed some of the adjustments she’d made to the rooms. No matter how often you told a pet not to pay attention to anything but their master or the one holding their leash, they’d always ignore that advice. Human curiosity, even harder to get rid of than their gag reflex. It was one of their better qualities.


	6. Chapter 6

Dean froze when they entered the dining area, she actually had to pull his leash to get him to continue. She could punish him for it, but instead she made the doors slam shut behind him. His breath caught and he stood still for a second before quickly dropping to his knees. 

She patted him on the head for finally getting his first clue, walking around him and correcting his posture before dropping his leash and moving up to the back of the room and the desk she’d set ready there.

“Feel free to wander around, satisfy your curiosity, I will be answering some of your questions when you’re done and in position.” She pretended not to care about what he was doing as she took place at the desk. She’d been in the room earlier, to get things set up, before she’d left her laptop and papers behind on the desk in order to get Dean. She noticed that Dean threw her a couple of looks until he seemed convinced that she wasn’t watching him. She allowed him to believe she was focused on her work as she kept a close eye on what Dean was doing instead.

The human took a moment longer before he moved from his spot at the door and started looking around the room. Currently most of the training items were out, she’d put most in storage after, once he’d had a chance to see what they were. He seemed to stay put the longest at the display featuring whips and other items of punishments, his fingers caressing the whips for a moment before moving on. 

He quickly moved on away from the examination chair, as soon as he saw the cuffs at both arm and feet rests, nearly bumping into the open cupboard showing a variety of plugs, gags and other such toys. She could see his eyes growing almost comically wide.

Dean didn’t even bother looking at the Paidopagis on the floor. An ingenious design if she did have to say so herself, after all, she was the one who’d invented it many many years ago. Humans liked to think they were immune of the rituals, the symbols, that they served only to trap the ‘other’, but there was a part of humanity that was higher as well, the soul. And it’s that part that the Paidopagis responded to. A human caught in that trap would be helpless, unable to move without her permission. Freezing their soul, locking it with a hook that made it easy to attach orders.

Dean’s soul wasn’t immune, it froze as soon as he touched the sigil, she made his body move to its knees and sent him through a series of exercises, practicing his body while his soul wasn’t present to fight her on it and setting said exercises in stone for when he wandered into the trap without her specific orders. She set the same orders for all the other Paidopagis she’d spread randomly on the grounds, keeping the Paidopagis amulet she’d brought in her pocket, it was only there for emergencies.

She wondered how long it would take Dean to realize he ought to avoid the designs whenever he saw them, and that when he did, he’d learn to respect any other design he came across as well, because of all the traps for humans her kind had ever designed, the Paidopagis was one of the kindest. At the very least it wouldn’t put his soul on fire, or turn his body into stone.

Oh the memories would remain, both the paces she put him through, as well as the trap, the only question would be if he’d make the connection. Either way, she approached him and ordered him to step forward. He nearly fell over when he left the Paidopagis. She saw him turn around, instantly staring at the design, backing another step away from it.

He seemed scared and instantly moved back to his knees. 

She took his hand, pulled him up to his feet and led him to the desk section, ordering him on the mat beside her feet. Making a human crawl might make a good impression, but it was horribly bad on their knees and spine if you made them do it too long or too often.

He stayed sitting there at her feet for half an hour before he started fidgeting again. His biggest flaw, the inability to sit still for more than a few minutes. It reminded her a bit of wild human children, high on sugar, running back and forth between their parents and whatever caught their attention next. In Dean’s case he at least stayed in place, but he kept staring at the room around them.

“You said you’d answer questions.” She was surprised that it had taken Dean so long to get to that. She gave him a pat on the head when he added: “mistress” to his previous statement. She’d always preferred rewarding a pet when it was good, instead of having to punish misbehavior. In the end, a human would remember kindness far longer than they would a beating.

“I did.” She put aside her pens and closed her laptop.

“So will you?” Dean was looking at the floor.

“That depends on the questions.”

He groaned at her answer, but didn’t fight it.“That thing, on the floor, what was that?” She didn’t answer right away, waiting for him to see what he was missing without her orders. She could feel more than saw him close his eyes. “What kind of design was that, mistress?”

“A Paidopagis, it is in many ways comparable to the devil’s traps that Hunters use to trap demons.”

“Devil’s traps don’t work on humans. “ Dean muttered, glaring at the floor.

“Which is why I wouldn’t even try to use one on you.” She answered him, while carefully rearranging his leash on her desk. “There are many forms of soul traps Dean. Some like the Paidopagis are only as harmful as the god who uses them designs them to be. They allow a pet’s master to chain the soul of a human, so their body is free to obey whatever orders the master sees fit. If I hadn’t set the trap in advance, you would have probably fallen unconscious, unable to move until I released you. One or two extra sigils sets the trap with specific orders, in this case I set the trap to teach you specific positions, that you will be required to learn over the course of the next few months. “

“What about the other forms?”

“It depends on the intent of their creator. Some merely serve to keep a human in place, while others specify certain duties, most lock a human soul in some ways. “

“Jesus.”

“Dean.” She didn’t even have to mention the no blasphemy rule, because it was clear he got that quite well enough on his own.

“And you … use these?”

“A lot of gods find them useful for hunting, or to keep their prey under control after a hunt. Regardless, you will be made to learn the different sigils so you can avoid them when needed. Your master would not like for you to fall in any of them if he did not specifically order you into one.”

Then before he could ask anything else. She held up her hand, he fell silent. “You can ask three more questions, don’t waste them.”

Dean was about to say something and stopped himself, she could feel his indecision ring out through the symbiote. “Why this bondage room, I mean, I get the whips, but the rest of it…”  
Despoine started playing with two of her rings, turning them on her fingers.

“Most of the items in this room are training tools. Others…they all have a function, and I’m sure you’ll get to meet every last one of them either sooner or later.” She clapped her hands, and most of the tools in the room faded from sight, leaving an eerily cavernous room behind, the few lights focusing on her and Dean.

Dean spooked, staring at the dimmed shadows surrounding them.

“We will get to them; right now, they’re not yet needed.”

Dean gulped, his hands tensing, still bound behind his back as they were. But instead of struggling his bonds the pet took a deep breath and straightened himself back in position, already falling into it quicker than he had before. 

“Good boy.” She said, while petting his head. 

He groaned under her touch, yet somehow he didn’t pull away from it. “Why do you do that?” 

“Do what?”

“Patting my head, acting like I’m some kind of a dog. Some fucking…”

“Pet?”

He fell quiet, closed his mouth shut, realizing he’d answered his own question. She didn’t bother with a response, he already knew the answer. Or he ought to. Even if he did seem freaked out by the idea of it. It wasn’t his fault that she preferred using the carrot over the stick. Why bother beating a pet to an inch of their life, when you could get them to do what you wanted, by reinforcing it whenever they actually did what you wanted them to.

She reopened her laptop. Waiting for him to continue before she went back to a regular training session.

It took about an hour before he spoke up again, or at least until he tried to speak up. She’d ordered the symbiote to keep him quiet, seeing as how he still had one question left, he might as well learn how to approach his master correctly first.

She could see him opening his mouth, and the startled reaction when not a single word came out. Sure she could wait out his glare until he was ready to be polite, but that would be unfair, after all, she was the one who’d told him he could ask questions. A very important part of training a new pet was to be fair and strict with the rules. When a pet was promised something, then you should at least try to give it to them. And never promise something you don’t plan to let them have. After all, why should a pet trust you to keep your word, if you break the first promise you give to them.

“Don’t roll your eyes, Dean. “ she said, she didn’t even need to bother looking at him to know what he was doing. “It’s very unbecoming in a pet.”

She could feel him groan, even though with the symbiote doing its work, she couldn’t hear him.  
“And so is your tendency to blurt out statements and questions without any thought to decorum.” His head turned to her in shock, before he shivered, his nerves on edge as if worried she was going to punish him. She tried to soothe him. “I didn’t say you couldn’t ask your question, Dean. But there are proper way to go about asking for permission to speak. I won’t punish you for speaking out, since you haven’t learned the proper manner yet. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t learn.”

His hand went to his throat, as if asking what that was if it wasn’t a punishment. She snorted at his silent statement, but ignored it otherwise.

“A well behaved pet, Dean, does not bother its owner. It does not try to pull attention to itself, it sits at its masters side and impresses those around it with its beauty, poise, grace and obedience. A good pet can fade in the background like a piece of furniture yet be ready at a moment’s notice to serve its owner’s needs. A good pet does **not** pull attention upon itself by speaking out without permission. But…” and she raised her hand as she continued, “if a pet does have something to say, that it feels cannot wait, said pet may ask for its owner’s attention and permission to speak. It does so by gently placing its full hand on its owner’s leg, all five fingers spread wide, while slowly tapping its thumb against said leg. A good pet will only do so once, if the owner does not respond, that means that they are busy and the pet should not bother him or her.” She could see that Dean had a question about that, but that he wasn’t sure if he should waste his last allowed question on it.

She closed her eyes, considered and decided to let him indulge. If he needed to follow the rules, then it was best for him to understand them.

“Ask your question, it won’t count as the last question I promised you earlier.” She ordered the symbiote to let go of its grip on the pets vocal chords and she could hear him peep when it did so. 

“What if Cas, what if my master is in trouble?” She looked at him wondering what he meant. “What if he’s somewhere dangerous and I notice something he missed, but he’s too busy with … someone or something and he won’t let me tell him what’s up. Am I supposed to keep my mouth shut and let him get in trouble just to be ‘appropriate.’”

She smiled, it was a good question, and it showed more loyalty than most pets would show for their owners at this stage in training. She gave it the full consideration it deserved while petting his neck. She was starting to notice that even despite his fear of her, part of him couldn’t help but lean into her touch. 

“Normally I’d say that it’s not up to a pet to think of what their master may or may not have noticed. But in these kind of cases, it’s best to play safe and put your hand on your owner’s knee. If after that he still isn’t realizing that what you have to say is urgent, you may speak, though he will undoubtedly have no choice but to discipline you for doing so.”

“So what, I’d get punished for trying to help him.”

“No Dean, you’d get punished for disobeying orders. But a good pet understands when a situation is worth getting punished over in order to be disobedient. A punishment in that sort of situation is a reminder to only do so in the most urgent of circumstances.“

She petted his neck, realizing this was hard for him to get, but glad to see that he was at least thinking about it. 

He sat by her side for a few more minutes before opening his mouth again, stopping himself and then placing his hand on her ankle, carefully spreading his fingers as she’d told him to and tapping on her skin. His touch felt warm on her skin and made her miss her own poor pet who was currently lying lonely and alone on her bed back at home. She hoped that the kids would keep the boy busy until she got back. The poor dear got bored so easily.

“You may ask your final question.” she whispered, hoping that the kitchen staff would remember to fill her pets feeder, they should at least know not to spoil him until she got back.

“A lot of the stuff, from before, and that hamster feeder in the cage, it’s sexual, right, for sex training?” 

She nodded, knowing all too well that wasn’t the question and not wanting to trick him.

“But Cas… Master said he didn’t want me for sex, so why bother wasting your time with that crap.”

She eyed him, testing him. “Do you think I’m wasting your time, Dean.”

He shrugged. “I’m a pet, it’s not up to me what you want to do or not. Just figured that however Cas is paying you for this, he’s not doing so for something he didn’t ask for.”

She couldn’t help herself, at hearing that and pulled him on her lap, rubbing his belly and genitals before moving her hand over his thigh. He seemed startled and was shaking, but seemed frozen between following his master’s orders to obey her and the need to get as far away from her as he could.

She gently caressed his nipples, and by the way he moaned when she brushed over them, she started making plans on what else could be done with them.

For all this insolence, lack of patience and utter and complete ignorance in regards to decorum, he was a damn good pet and once he was trained, he’d be magnificent. 

“Dean, do you know how often an owner starts out telling me they’re not interested in sex with their pets? How often I get told that they only want company, or service until one day, they’re knocking at my door, demanding that their pet is instantly trained in how to please either their master, or their master’s guests. Do you know how many pets I’ve seen get hurt, because their owner changed their mind and didn't give their pet the time to adjust to their new duties?” Dean seemed to shiver at the thought.

“I’m sure that at this point your owner has no interest in penetrating you, either orally or anally. But when the time comes that he does, or that he decides to lend you out to an ally in exchange for services, then I want you to be able to do so without a second of hesitation. In order to do so, you’ll need to learn to be comfortable, both with your body, with penetration and with sexual acts that may for now still seem strange or odd to you.”

“What if he lends me out to a chick?” Less curious this time, yes, she could see what Castiel had told her about Dean’s … sexual inclinations. 

“Dean, your master did tell me about you. And be honest, do you really need any basic help or training in regards to pleasuring women?” She was glad to see that her compliment helped put him at ease. She simply adored the way the pet on her lap reacted to kind words and gentle touches. The way his tongue moved between his teeth almost unconsciously. And the funniest part was that he didn’t even seem to realize it. No need to tell him about the advanced training that would come later, if ever, after all, his master’s current vessel was male and she was sure that Dean could put most of her training to use, regardless of the gender of his owner’s body. 

At least Dean didn’t seem to insist too much on his oh so important heterosexuality. It did get annoying after a while when a new pet kept trying to insist that they were only interested in one gender, whether it was their own or not. Honestly, humans were far too insistent on putting labels on sexual preference. What sane creature would honestly care about something as silly and physical as gender where pleasure was concerned?


	7. Chapter 7

Dean straightened his back after that, even as she traced his spine under his skin. Her fingers moving over his freckles, he didn’t have much hair, some humans were like that, but she couldn’t help running into the occasional stray hair, especially at the back of his neck.  
She didn’t offer orders, telling him to stay down with her every touch and noting down his every reaction in her mind. She’d push him back into position when he started itching to move and ordered the symbiote to gag him the first time he tried to speak up.

“Be a good pet, dean. Sit still, don’t be a bother and let me work.” She didn’t even look at him as she said this. Just because he was her personal project, didn’t mean he was the only thing on her mind, and it would do him good to know this. To know that a master or even just a trainer, didn’t exist for their pet’s sake. That they had a life and that a lot of the times, a pet would be expected to do nothing and just focus on not embarrassing their owner with bad posture or ill timed attempts to get attention. Dean needed to get used to just staying in place, no matter what happened, no matter what she did. He needed to learn the state of mind in which he could slip away from time, yet have enough focus on the real world to be ready to serve at a moment’s notice.

As he got bored, she used the symbiote to slowly push his mind to the right state, she had to get over the sigils branded on his ribs that kept him hard to read, but once she got past them she nearly fell into an abyss of pain. The same pain that kept Dean from truly relaxing. It was easier now, with Dean’s mind wandering, lost, almost dozing off. She could see him sitting for another master, one of the kind that didn’t deserve to own pets in the first place. 

She knew the kind, the ones who saw humans as nothing more than objects, to be used and discarded at their pleasure. And to give one of those the use of a pet in hell made it worse, because there was no escape for the human, not even in death, since they were already there.   
She saw the rack, the knives and knew she had to lead Dean away from them. Because to Dean’s mind that was part of what being a pet was about, that and something… something, hard to believe but true, even worse. She knew she needed to see, but Dean’s mind didn’t want to go there, she didn’t push. Instead she pushed the rack out of the way and stood in between Dean and his fear. Dean looked up at her and clung to her leg, without even realizing he was doing it. She pulled him in her arms and held him close. 

When she opened her eyes she was back in the training room and the tension was softening in Dean’s shoulders as he released a sigh. She pretended not to pay attention to him, absentmindedly rubbing his neck, giving him a physical touch to ground himself with, while keeping her eyes on her laptop. She really didn’t get her fellow gods who looked down on humans. Sure they were only animals ,but such smart animals they were, with their inventions and their art. She knew how much of the despise of humans was really born out of jealousy and couldn’t help but think how silly it was.

Gods tended to freeze in time, but give a human a bit of inspiration and they could achieve miracles. She let her hand wander to Dean’s nipples, testing his ability to stay still and in place. It wasn’t easy for him, oh he remembered what he was taught and he tried so hard, but even with the help of the Paidopagis it was hard for his body to adjust to the proper posture.  
She noticed his legs cramped up after some time, but aside of twitching a bit, the pet managed to keep from moving. Not a bad effort for a first time. She ordered him up and into the Paidopagis, ignoring his groan as he did so. Soon he was moving through different positions, allowing his muscles to unclench while simultaneously teaching them the right moves until they became instinctual.

He was still going through them when she reentered the room, carrying a plate of food. She carefully put down the plate, pushed the laptop closed and set down her utensils. She’d always liked to eat with the pets she was training, in a few days, a week at most, maybe Dean would even be ready to learn how to be fed from his master’s hand. Until then the smell served nicely as a way to check his ability to focus.

She ordered him beside her and ignored his little cringe when he regained his musculature control as soon as he left the Paidopagis. “Something wrong, Dean?”

He shuddered. “That thing’s creepy.”

She didn’t need to go in his head to get that bit. After seeing the racks in his memories, it wasn’t hard to guess what the Paidopagis reminded him off. Unfortunately for his sake, it’d be better for him to get used to it than to let him go without. Maybe she should leave him in it for a few days, give him a full immersion so he could learn to trust that she wasn’t about to let anything bad happen to him. She kept it for another time, allowing him to get used to handing himself over to a higher power, to learn that surrender wasn’t a bad thing.

She spotted the note of drool on his lips as she continued eating, the awkward distracted glances over to her food. All it did was make her enjoy her food more visibly, licking her lips to get to the last drop. Teasing him with the scent and look of it, hoping he’d realize that he’d be better off if he kept his eyes on the floor instead of ogling her meal. 

After the fifth time she had to order him to keep his eyes down, she decided that she needed to do something about his distraction. 

“Dean.”

He spooked up and looked at her. “Yes Mistress.” And now he was suddenly all proper. She feared she would have to disappoint him.

She let the toy wall reappear. “Head up to the wall and pick out a penis gag that you think looks comfortable. I want to see it in your mouth when you return.”

He shook her way, about to protest. 

“I gave you an order, pet.”

Dean hesitated as he got to his feet, moving up to the wall as if she’d put a spreader bar between his ankles. She didn’t look up to see what gag he picked, though she wasn’t about to assume it’d be one of the larger ones, even if it would probably help him more than whichever one he actually picked.

After she finished with breakfast, she opened her laptop and took care of her correspondence. There was a message from her brother, telling her he’d gotten himself a new pet that he had high hopes for. A high school boy from New York. He asked her a few tips on how to deal with the spoiled brat and by the time they’d mailed back and forth a few times, another hour had passed. 

Dean meanwhile had had a few moments where he’d found it hard to balance himself, but each time he’d saved his position and stayed in place, even as she’d patted his back, stroked his ass or let her fingers linger over his cheeks. It was only when she brushed his hair behind his ear that he started moving. It seemed he was a bit ticklish. She could work with that. 

She used his leash to tickle his genitals and he nearly lost his balance as she did so. She sent her brother one last message before closing the browser, wishing he had the common sense that Zeus had granted tree nymphs, even if she could understand his motivations. It was just a really bad idea to take a child that still had parents, no matter how neglectful they were, especially when the child in question was a student at a high class boarding school. 

She hoped he’d left enough false leads, so that taking the boy wouldn’t lead Hunters on their trail. 

Thinking of Hunters made her look at Dean again. Castiel had confirmed her suspicions that Dean had been a Hunter, as if his name wasn’t enough of a hint. The new god had mentioned some holy books, gospels, ordered into being by the previous Lord of heaven, that talked about Dean’s previous life. Showed how he was trained, raised into it as it were. She figured it would be easy enough to get her hands on them, but didn’t think it would be a good idea. She rarely bothered to find out too much of her projects past beforehand, preferring to find out as much as she could while putting them through their paces.

Dean wasn’t small for a human. His body was strong, muscled and she couldn’t imagine he’d been bad at hunting, considering he’d successfully destroyed the vessels of gods and had even killed an angel with his own hands. It was no less than to be expected from a human who’d been meant to be the Vessel of an archangel. And yet here he was. Maybe there was something to be said for Hunters, if they could look like this one did. Get a human who already knew about the supernatural, who didn’t freak whenever he or she saw something out of the ordinary. It was a real pity that Castiel had put a full restraining order against any creature daring to come anywhere within twenty miles of the boy’s brother. A bloodline as precious as this one should be preserved, not wasted in the wild. 

But then again, Castiel had mentioned something about the brother being part of the deal he’d made with Dean, the very deal that was making Dean as cooperative as he was.

“You can get up now.” She said. “Stretch your limbs, you’ll be doing a lot more kneeling, so make sure your body is up to it.”

He winced visibly, before he got up to his feet, stretching his arms and feet, she watched the muscles in his back as he bent over, accidentally displaying his ass in the best way imaginable; definitely meant to be a pet this one, even if he didn’t get that yet. 

She moved in front of him, and he seemed to hesitate between just staying still and getting back to his knees. She shook her head and attached the leash back to the symbiote that was making itself comfortable around his neck.

“Follow me. You can stay on your feet for now.”

She led him out of the training room and down the hall to the laundry room, ignoring the dead staring eyes of the ghosts surrounding them. She’d set apart a side of the laundry room to use it for Dean. He was staring around him as she led him inside, blushing under the eyes of the dead nuns. She wondered how long it’d take him to get comfortable with his nudity. The longer it took, the longer she’d have to keep him from getting back any clothes.

She hadn’t done much to change up the look of the room, just adding a few pieces of furniture that would make things easier on both her and Dean. The walls were a pale white, covered in metal plates that were easy to wash off and that could handle the humidity. She’d taken the basin that had been intended to color fabric and reclaimed it as a bath. It was large enough for the pet to fit in and be fully immersed, yet still give her enough space to move around it and him. And there was a shower portion that would serve well enough when she didn’t have the time to bathe him properly.

She took a few bags, tubes and bottles out from under the sink and ordered the pet to climb into the tub and kneel down. Once he was in, she pushed his head to the floor, making his ass rise up for easy access, he seemed to be fighting the urge to look back to see what she was planning. She petted his head and scratched behind his ears to show her approval.

“Have you ever had an enema, Dean?” He stared at her in revulsion. “I’ll take that as a yes.”  
He started saying something, even through the gag, his lips plump around the plastic, but she raised her hand and stopped him. “You’re not allowed to touch yourself, Dean, and you need to be cleaned. I’m happy to help out with this. Now stay down and try to relax your anus, it’ll make this easier on both of us.

She filled the bags with warm water, adding some mild flowery scented soap and a mixture of her own making that would help to strengthen his bowels after all the damage he’d put them through over the years. She’d checked of course, rubbed it over his leg before she even considered putting it inside of him, had to make sure he wasn’t allergic. Dean winced as she hung up the first bag and gently caressed his ass. She took some lubricant and gently opened his anal cavity with the tip of her finger. A single tear formed around Dean’s eye and she gently brushed through his hair, pulling the symbiote in a ribbon around his forehead, using it to hold the pet’s hair out of his eyes.

“What are you doing?!” She turned around and noticed Castiel standing in the door. The former angel looked more emotional than he’d been since she first met him. There was a rage in his eyes that was almost comforting in its intensity. Even aimed at her, it was good to know that he did have some feelings.

“I’m just preparing him for an enema, sir. “

Castiel appeared next to Dean, his hand touching the gag in Dean’s mouth before caressing his pet’s lips Despoine hung up the bag attaching a tube to go straight into Dean.. “As you can see I’ve created a mixture to clean up his insides, it’ll stream inside his bowels and remove any potential bacteria or other unwanted remnants” The new god’s eyes moved over to Dean’s back and her fingers pushing in and out of Dean’s opening.

“Why?”

“A clean pet, Castiel, is a healthy pet.”She sat down on the side of the basin, adding a second finger, gently stretching the muscles without causing any undue harm.  
Castiel came closer to her instead, his hand had a harsh grip on her wrist. He just kept staring at her, and she stared right back. She pulled herself lose, or at least he allowed her to pull free, and she continued her work until she decided Dean had had enough preparation. She patted him on the ass again and gently pressed the nozzle of the enema kit in between the muscles of his anus. Releasing the flow, letting it slowly seep in. 

“Just relax, sweetie. “ She said, watching as Castiel touched the small of Dean’s back, Dean raised his head, turning over his shoulder to look at his owner, his eyes pleading, but Castiel didn’t seem to notice even as he pushed the boy over to his side, allowing him to lie down and rest the weight forming inside his belly on the floor of the tub. She lifted Dean’s leg to keep it from interfering with the tube. “Would you like to switch the bags, sir. It might help later on if you knew how to do so when needed?” Castiel stared at her before the bag suddenly filled up again. A useful, though slightly odd ability to have. Dean’s stomach slowly swelled under the pressure and she kept a close eye on the quantity, making sure she wasn’t using too much for Dean’s first time. She could add another bag or two by the time he’d gotten more experienced in taking them. She decided she would also use an added herb to soothe the pets nerves, making the enema something to enjoy rather than fear. At the very least it would keep his master from barging in again.

“Forgive me my question, sir, but I thought you said you wouldn’t be able to be here for the next few days?” Because if he was going to break his plans over and over it could seriously mess up her schedule.

“Dean was suffering.” Dean was freely crying by now and Castiel’s fingers moved over to his pet’s face, picking up the tears.

She looked at him, feeling Dean’s heartbeat easing down under his master’s presence. Dean looked up at him, his lips still clinging tightly to the gag. Castiel gently removed the gag, staring at it rather oddly, his fingers moving over the rather small curved dildo on the inside of the gag. He didn’t ask her what it was for, instead he placed his fingers in between Dean’s lips, giving him something new to suck. Dean didn’t need any further encouragement in regards to that.

“No, sir, he’s not. It’s just impossible to make him used to new things without a little discomfort. It’s why he’ll be uncomfortable a lot more often during his training.“ The new God didn’t seem too sure. “It is for his own good, sir. I promise. And it is needed.”

Castiel’s eyes burned into her. His hand laid still on Dean’s shoulder while he glared in her direction. It was a relief when he finally looked away and turned his attention back to Dean. Slowly moving up and down Dean’s back, the symbiote sliding away from the God’s touch, moving itself to Dean’s leg, as far away from the god as it could manage before Castiel leaned closer to his pets ear. “You are doing well, Dean." His lips almost touching Dean’s skin, as his fingers moved along his pet’s freckles. “I just wanted you to know that Sam proposed to Jessica Moore last night. I hope this pleases you.”

Castiel continued caressing Dean while the fluid entered the human in front of him. Dean was still crying, but it was like he no longer even noticed it. Castiel seemed almost unsure in regards to how to deal with a human, exploring Dean’s body, not quite as if it were something new to him. But as if he hadn’t expected to be allowed to come this close, nor that Dean would lean so much into his touch. 

By the time he got up and left, Dean’s face was red and smudged with tears. The symbiote moved up to Dean’s neck, Dean tried to push it away, but the symbiote wasn’t that easily forced aside. Rubbing itself along Dean’s spine, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up straight as it tried to offer comfort to the pet it was bonded to.

Despoine wiped away Dean’s tears before checking the tube one last time. It was almost finished. She rubbed her fingers over his belly feeling the water slogging inside of him and the way his muscles tensed under the pressure. “Focus on holding it all in, Dean.” She said, willing to give him a chance to do this right. “Since it is your first time, I’ll use a plug to help you out." 

Dean squirmed as the symbiote crawled over his belly. “Leave it be” she said, before replacing the enema’s nozzle with a small plug. Then she helped Dean lie back down, his legs crunched up to his stomach, her hand moving over his thighs. “It’s just being friendly.” He rolled his eyes at her, before flinching. 

She didn’t mind the occasional eye roll too much, as long as it wasn’t too frequent. What good was a pet if they didn’t have some personality. Otherwise you might as well create a golem, they could be just as pretty, and had none of those pesky quirks that made humans so unique.

“Wasn’t it nice of your master to show up like that?” she said, continuing the one sided conversation that had been interrupted by Castiel’s arrival earlier. “He must care a lot about you.” She picked up a sponge and softly soaped up his body, starting with his back and thighs, moving him back and forth as she did so, letting her hands linger as she rubbed his skin, paying particular attention to his hands, feet and genitals. When she smeared the shampoo on his hair and she massaged his head, he was moaning under her touch. She didn’t think he was even aware he was doing it. 

She turned him over and soaped up his front, giving his nipples a slight twinge before continuing on to his face. He was covered in foam by the time she helped him back up. By now he was squirming in place, wincing at every touch to his stomach.

“Shhhh, just hold it all in, just for a few seconds, can you do that for me sweetie, just keep it in until I tell you you’re done.”

He nodded, by now almost unable to talk. She removed the plug, and even though a small smush of water came free, Dean managed to hold most of it inside of him. 

Then she helped him move himself up over the drain, opened it up fully and turned back to him.  
“Now let go.” 

By the time he was finished Dean seemed to be almost unable to even look at her, his face all crunched up. Like an adorable bulldog pup caught in a perpetual frown. She cleaned her hands and grabbed hold of the showerhead, cleaning off both the soap on his body as well as any remaining remnants of the enema. Dean shuddered under the cold water, but didn’t try to get away from either her or the water. She increased the heat of the water to mild, letting him enjoy its warmth, while brushing her hands through his hair. 

The last pet she’d trained had been cowering away from her by this point. He’d been shaking whenever he saw her come near and had almost injured himself trying to get away, she’d had no choice but to make his symbiote freeze him in place whenever she give her an enema. After the first month of constant trouble, she’d had no choice but to put a Paidopagis amulet on him just to get him to sit still while she washed him. She couldn’t help but appreciate how much easier it was to train a pet that actually wanted to be trained and didn’t keep screaming at her, begging her to let him go. 

She couldn’t believe she was almost looking forward to hearing Dean’s voice. Maybe she should make him put the gag back in, best to keep from spoiling him this early in his training.

“There there.” She whispered, while cleaning out the basin with him still in it, before plugging the drain and turning on the faucets until she had a perfect combination of warm and cold. Feeling it every few times to make sure it didn’t become uncomfortable and would serve for a nice long soak. She grabbed a bottle of bathing salts and a creamy mixture of honey dew bathing gel to add to the water. 

“Just enjoy it, sweetie, I’ll be back for the next part of your training as soon as I’m finished with preparations. “ 

He stared at her, not expecting to be left alone, looking after her as she walked up to the doors. She stopped right outside, watching him through the walls as he finally relaxed and sank down in the bath, dunking himself head and all, before finally laying down in the water allowing it to sooth his sore muscles. She winked away the double vision and returned to the training room, calling up all the tools she needed and setting them ready.

There wasn’t all that much to do, a mild obstacle course that would hopefully help build Dean’s trust in her guidance. She knew of several friends who preferred four legged animals as pets, even humans did so, but she’d never been one of them herself. Most dogs were good natured and easily trained, and a tiger or crocodile had a dignity that humans sometimes lacked. She understood that, but you couldn’t reason with them. You could maybe make them do something they didn’t like, but you couldn’t make them want to do it. They lacked understanding. 

Humans might not be good at reasoning, but with some help, they were capable of it. Who knows, in a few millennia they might even evolve into something that was worth treating as an equal.  
When she returned to the bathroom Dean seemed to instantly rise up from a soft doze. She smiled at him, to prove that he’d done nothing wrong. Then she helped him out of the bath and gently rubbed him off with a set of towels. She could dry him instantly of course, but it was better for him to get used to her touch. 

The symbiote that currently looked like a band of black leather had slid back to its primary spot around Dean’s throat and she sent a ray of warmth towards it. It’s feelings were primal, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have them. She could almost feel the warmth of Dean’s blush, as the symbiote shared its feeling of wellbeing with him.

Dean seemed to be twitching on his feet, moving from one foot to the other. She put the last of the towels in with the laundry and thanked the ghosts who started up the machines. They barely even acknowledged her presence.

“Is something wrong, Dean.” 

He was hesitant, blushing as she turned him around, checking to see if she’d forgotten anything.

“I can’t help you if I don’t know what the problem is.”

His hand moved to his neck “This thing, what… what is it. What does it do?”

She smiled, enjoying his curiosity. “It’s a symbiote of a species called Bobrayala, they’re extremely rare in the wild, but I managed to domesticate them millennia ago.” Just like her family had domesticated their own humans ages ago as well. But like the humans, the symbiotes came with a sting, a sting that had left her outside of her own kind, even as she felt more closely the pain of those serving at her kind’s feet.

Despoine could feel a note of attention when she mentioned the name, and noticed a cringe on the edge of his lips that was suggesting he was fighting a grin.

She touched the symbiote and it almost flooded to her touch, before reverting to its collarlike state.

“They are incredibly friendly and interact with a human’s nerve system. When needed they can take over your nerves, bypassing your brain signals.” That seemed to make Dean grab for his neck again. “Don’t worry, if you keep cooperating as you have so far, then there’s no reason for me to use that option any more than I absolutely have to. It’ll also make sure that if you’re ever in danger, I can use the symbiote to force you out of the way of it, before it touches you in any way. “

“So it’s a leash.”

“Among others.” She sent him a mental pat on the head and he basked under it for a second before he realized what was happening and pulled back. She physically petted him after that just to send on the message. “It allows me to send you rewards, enhance your sense of wellbeing, and increases your body’s capacity to heal. Small injuries will heal faster and more severe wounds that otherwise might have been lethal can be survived.”

It could also punish him by sending intense feelings of pain, but she didn’t figure she had to tell him that now. Maybe even never.

“The one you’re wearing is currently an infant, once full-grown, it’ll be able to function as a garment, capable of protecting you from any weapon, it really is quite the amazing species.” Kind and cruel equal in both measures, a lot like humans really.

“It itches.” She giggled at the pout accompanying his words and grabbed up a comb, pushing Dean to kneel in front of her before she pulled the comb through his hair. The short cut was neat and easy to maintain, but she couldn’t help thinking how gorgeous he’d be if it were longer.

“You’ll get used to it. “ She patted him on the head. The grumbling was actually funny rather than irritating. She didn’t even understand why. Maybe he did remind her somewhat of her youngest brother, the wild child of the family. It was probably best to never tell either of them. “Don’t try to get rid of it, Dean, the symbiote is linked to your nervous system, removing it now could kill the both of you.”

Dean froze, his hand once again moving to the symbiote, removing it before she got the urge to tie his hands behind his back. 

“So uh, what do you want me to do?” Dean asked, hesitation clear in his tone. “Should I kneel again?” Zeus, he was a delight, she wanted to hug the poor thing and never let go.

“Not yet, we’re heading back to the training room first.” She grabbed the leash and he stood still while she attached it to the symbiote. “I do appreciate your instincts, pet. When you’re uncertain, kneeling is almost always the right thing to do, it tells your owner that you know your place and that you are ready to follow orders.” He blushed as she touched his ear, scratching and pushing a stray hair back behind his ears.

He followed behind her, only pulling his leash once, and considering that he was nearly tripping over himself when some of the ghosts came through the walls, she couldn’t even blame him for that one.

She opened the door to the training room and he knelt by her side as soon as she stood still in front of the obstacle course. She lowered herself beside him, not saying a word, giving him the chance to relax beside her before she allowed her hands to wander over his body. He cringed almost involuntarily, but didn’t try to move away from her. She intentionally let the leash drop down on his genitals, he winced a bit, but stayed still regardless. “Good boy.” She whispered, while tickling his belly. 

He was confused, she knew that, probably thought she’d lost her mind, with no idea of what was to come, but his dick fattened as she twisted his nipples and she scratched his balls as a small test. He winced, yet hardened even more. She pulled out a cock ring she’d pushed into her pocket earlier and bound it around his thick cock. The organ was only slightly over average in size, but grew larger as his body was overcome by arousal. She caressed the head of his dick as she left the ring behind and got back to her feet. Her joints stirring painfully as she did so.  
She placed her hands on his face besides his eyes and the symbiote joined her, forming a blindfold over the pet’s eyes, letting go of the leash as it did so. He’d learned enough by now not to reach for the symbiote and kept still, his hands on the ground beside his thighs, his fingers twitching as if he wasn’t sure what to do with them now that he didn’t have clothes to hide them in, or weapons to keep them busy. 

She led him to his feet and pulled him towards the first obstacle.

He stumbled a bit as he almost ran into it, he would have if she hadn’t been holding his arm.  
“Humans are amazing in many ways, Dean. You are capable of creating things of beauty, of bringing something in the world that never existed before. Once inspired, you can reach heights that a god can’t even imagine. “ She could hear his mind fluttering away from her, unsure where she was getting at. “A bit part of that is because of the way you see the world. A god sees the world clearly, bit by bit, molecule by molecule. We see the soul of all matter, the heart of creation, and because of that, it becomes hard for us to imagine something that we don’t see.”  
Dean tilted his head, still a bit unsure, missing one of his senses. 

“When you are amongst gods, they will see things, that you don’t. They will feel and touch things beyond your understanding. It would be as if you were a blind man amongst the seeing. And the only way you will be able to handle that, is by placing your trust in your owner, or your handler. To let us guide you, and to understand that we won’t lead you wrong, because you are our responsibility.”

“Is that what the blindfold is about?” He asked her, centering himself on the balls of his feet.

“The blindfold is an aid, Dean, it pulls away one of the crutches you use to keep from giving yourself over to me. This is an exercise in trust. Your ability to trust my orders, to follow my commands without a thought and to trust me to lead you true.”

“But what if I’m not fast enough.

“Well for now, at the very least you’ll bump into things.” She smiled at him, even knowing he wouldn’t be able to see it. She bumped his nose and giggled.

It was funny the way he leaned into her touch, without even realizing it. She liked it, she hoped Castiel would appreciate it just as much. Then she twirled him around until he lost all sense of direction. 

“Now I know you took a good look of the course before the symbiote covered your eyes. So I’m going to give you a chance, to try and take the obstacle course without my guidance. See if you can do it on your own.” She took a step back and left him a few feet away from the first obstacle, with his back turned towards the first pole. “You’ve got… “ and she hesitated, as if pretending to look at a clock. “an hour to pass each obstacle and reach the other side of the course. Once there, you will ring the bell.”

“And what do I get if I succeed?” Dean asked, with a smile on his face. 

He was seeing it as a challenge, something to enjoy. She loved the way he looked when he smiled. It took ten years of his age. She placed her finger on his lips and pushed him back, his back against the pole. “Ring the bell and we’ll see.”


	8. Chapter 8

Oh Dean gave it a good effort, and he did have some help with her pushing him towards the first obstacle, but soon the first pole went flying to the floor, and she could hear Dean’s gasps of pain as he hit into several of the traffic cones blocking his way. He yelped as he felt the freeze of the cones against his ankles. “What are those things made of.” He grumbled, before continuing on, trying to feel his way along several of the display cases. Another yelp as his fingers accidentally swiped some of the drawing pins to the floor, even louder when he stepped into it. She saw him instantly go to his knees, feeling for the pins, and picking up, first one, then two, then more, cringing as he put them back on the display, carefully feeling along his way for more.

“That’s just unfair.” Dean mumbled, before continuing on, almost falling as the floor gave way under his feet, then rose up and dropped again as though he was on the cake walk at a fairground. He ended up crawling until he regained solid ground under his feet. The way he kept trying was just so adorable. She almost smiled when he moved too much to the left, leaving the obstacle course behind and ending up against the toy closet. She could see the way he let his fingers wander across the dildo’s, but plugs and gags and instantly pushed himself forwards, trying to get back to the obstacle course. Of course the first thing he did when he got there was run right into the sound cage, forced to his knees as the sound of a thousand bells chimed into his ears. It actually surprised her when he managed to push through that and get out of the trap, the noise fell still when he left the sigils and he stumbled forwards, his hands tracing the floor in front of him, touching what he found in front of him. The floor was covered with a net and he held out one hand, probably trying to step over it first. As quickly as he pushed his foot over the net, even quicker did he pull it back as electric shocks came off the net. There was no way around it, Dean would have to know that if he remembered anything from before the symbiote blindfolded him. The area behind the net was surrounded by walls and he’d have to get past the net to get to the bell. 

He froze for a moment before lying down, belly to the floor and started crawling, carefully, so he didn’t touch the net any more than he absolutely had to. The net was just high enough that he could avoid it if he kept as low to the floor as possible. It was good training for when he came faced with gods who would tolerate nothing less than crawling for mercy from anything human.

He crawled further than the net by at least ten feet, but then better that then that he got up too early. He was about to crawl up on hand and feet when his finger hit a Paidopagis, he moved it back before he got trapped. She wasn’t sure what gave it away, possibly the lingering touch that the Paidopagis gave to his soul when he got too close, or even just the feel of paint on the floor, still fresh enough to be picked up by touch. He started shivering, holding his limbs as he sat there, staring around him with covered eyes, as if scared of whatever else could be there to trap him. Then he moved to the wall, getting up to his feet, leaning as close to the wall as he could manage, one foot, two feet, he was still four feet away from the end of the wall, only sixteen feet away from the bell and she was holding her breath to see what he’d do when a grey stone hand reached out for his ankles, he pulled it away, but another hand was already reaching for his wrist, a tender stone finger pushing forward between his legs, grabbing for his genitals. Dean tried to get away, nearly losing his balance and falling into the Paidopagis as he did so, but it was too late and the ghosts hands had already caught hold of him. One very male arm pulling him closer to the wall, holding him in a tight grip, while another pushed across his throat, the female hand between his thighs had gotten a hold of his cock and was madly rubbing it into further arousal, even as the cock ring he still wore kept him from coming. Two more hands reached out from the wall, one per each nipple, stroking him, holding him, while others grabbed his wrists and ankles pulling him open to the touch. His ass was pushed against the wall, and she could only imagine what the wrist rubbing up against his crack was doing to his self control. 

He still struggled in their grip, as the fingers that had a hold of his cock, were joined by others that pulled at his balls, tugging them down. 

He screamed, but two more hands appeared, one grabbing his nose, pinning it closed, while another forced its fingers between his open lips, in and out in a rhythm as old as man.  
She was fair, she gave him his full hour, half of which was spend pawed by the hands in the wall and by the time she clapped her hands and the limbs withdrew he fell to his knees in suffering. She approached him and he stared up at her, eyes filled with tears.

“Do you understand now, Dean, why you need to trust us to guide the path for you. To know that no matter what knowledge you have, no matter how observant you are, you’re only a man and there’s traps and tricks you won’t be able to spot with human eyes.“

She placed her hand on the side of his head, and the symbiote moved back to his throat as she did so, letting him see her, he quickly lowered his eyes, staring at her feet.

“Shhh, it won’t ever be this bad again, Dean. Not as long as you trust me.” If he’d had any less strong a mind he would have grabbed hold of her legs by now. “We’ll start out slow, and I’ll let you know when I expect you to respond faster. “

“Yes, Mistress.” He whispered, getting back to his feet and following her back to the start of the course, staring at what once again looked like your average obstacle course, now well aware that it wasn’t. 

She petted him on the head, ordered the symbiote back to his eyes and started him moving, starting with the simple orders. Forward, left, right, on your knees, bend down, crawl further, up, down, knees, up, over, under… After an hour, Dean still hit the occasional object, but he was getting better and it was obvious he had some experience in following someone else’s lead while blind. 

She continued on until she was pleased, and she noticed Dean limping on one foot that had slipped into one of the pins he’d dropped earlier. 

She ordered him to stand still, he was panting from the exertion. They'd been working at this for four hours now, and Dean hadn't had anything to drink since morning ten hours ago, it was time he got a short break. She’d set towels ready in advance and took one of them now, wiping the sweat of off his body, before rubbing a salve over his foot, closing the small wound before he could open it again, he was too tired to show much reaction. Then she ordered him to walk forward and he didn’t even think before he obeyed. The salve was already starting to work, along with the symbiote, the injury should be gone in an hour or so. When they got back to his room, she ordered him to duck and get into the crate he didn’t even hesitate enough to accidentally hit his head on the crate, she couldn’t begin to say how proud she was of him for that. 

“Drink something, get some rest, I should be back in an hour.”

Dean sank down in his crate, his mouth surrounding the mushroom shaped nozzle of his drinking tube, sucking it desperately, not even noticing the different taste of the water. She watched him for a moment, making sure he wasn’t drowning himself, before turning her back on the dark room and heading outside into the light.

Mighty Zeus, she desperately needed some fresh air and a bite to eat. She opened the sandwich with human meat that her mother’s servants had prepared for her, removing the meat with a napkin before closing the sandwich and taking her first bite. She should have just bit in, it was just meat. Probably from the farm or maybe some of Oberon’s produce. It didn’t have to be wild meat, and yet…

She stared up at the sun, high up in the sky. She’d gotten a lot done for a first day. When she was finished eating, she moved to the head nun’s office that Castiel had taken for his own, opening the cabinets and looking at the chalice standing in front of her. She pulled it out and held it in her hands. 

“Sam Winchester.” She whispered. Images appeared before her of a tall well built man seated behind a desk, his hands carefully making notes as he read a case file. There was a picture of a young golden haired woman in front of him on the desk. There was another young woman standing in the door, who smiled at him and offered him to come get a coffee. Despoine remembered her from the list, Joanna Beth Harvelle, her name was Jo. The young man looked up, groaned as he looked at the clock and stretched as he got up from his chair. He seemed happy. That was part of the deal after all. Sam Winchester would never know anything but happiness, for the rest of his life. Any worries he might have ever had would be dealt with, any fears would be assuaged. It’s just a shame that he’d never remember whom he’d lost or what the cost of his happiness would be. 

She took another deep breath before putting the chalice back in place and returning to the pet. They had hours of work ahead of them, she just hoped that Dean would be able to hold in until she was ready to let him get cleaned up before bed time. Humans were hard work, but there was nothing in the world more entertaining than them either.


	9. Chapter 9

Training Dean was turning out to be one of the most rewarding jobs she’d had since she left her uncle’s employ. It wasn’t just that he cooperated, a lot of the smarter humans did as soon as they realized that it made things easier on themselves. It was that he didn’t just do what she told him, he genuinely tried to follow the spirit of her commands as well as the letter. He wanted to be a good pet, and he wasn’t even broken yet. Oh she knew there was a reason for it, his brother. Everything was for Sam. Sam and Castiel. 

It made her wonder why Castiel had insisted so much on making the man love him, when Dean already did. Sometimes she caught Dean looking at Castiel when the new god came by to spend time with his pet. Dean tried to hide how much he needed his master, but that didn’t stop him from doing it. And since it was what Castiel wanted from Dean in the first place, she wasn’t about to put an end to his behavior beyond letting him know how much his master obviously cared for him.

She’d started a new stage of training the day before, to see how long Dean would be able to hold in before he needed to urinate. From the smell in the room, it seemed that the answer was less than a day. The poor boy looked miserable, turned away from the puddle outside of the crate as if hoping that it would stop to exist if he didn’t look at it.

She cleaned up the puddle with a snap of her finger and ordered the pet out of his crate. Dean was shivering, his head bowed down. She instantly pulled him closer, telling him everything was alright, that it wasn’t his fault. Rubbing his back and belly as she did so, allowing him to lean into her touch while she brushed her fingers through his hair.

“I’m sorry.” Dean repeated. “I tried Mistress, I really tried, but then it got too much and…” The sense of humiliation poured out of him, almost made him act like a kid who’d disappointed his favorite teacher. It was a role she didn’t mind playing.

“Shhhh sweetie, it’s alright, I never expected you to hold up as long as you did.”  
Up to two at night, if the symbiote was to be believed, that was two hours longer than she’d expected him to hold in. Another reason for her to pet his head and tickle him behind the ear.

“I’m so proud of you.” She whispered, her lips close enough to touch skin.

It was incredible how even that little bit of praise made his face light up as if someone had just handed him the world. Even if it faded just as fast as it came.

“But I failed, Mistress.” 

“Oh sweetie, some things you are never supposed to succeed at, all that matters with those, is how you try and how much effort you put in doing so.” He looked away again. “As long as you keep trying as you have so far, then there’s nothing you could possibly do to disappoint me.”  
He lingered for a second as she caressed his hair, before he dropped to his knees with a grace that still surprised her and his position got better with each time he performed it. The only exceptions had been when she pushed him beyond exhaustion and that was to be expected. She'd extended the number of training positions set up in the Paidopagis, and he was just as quick in getting them right as he’d been with the first ones.

“Come with me.”

He got to his feet in a single move and she led the way to the laundry room. She patted the bench and he jumped up on the bench without further prompting. She let her hand wander along his thigh.

“You’re doing well Dean, but now that I know your limits, I can start using some tools to help you improve your long term endurance. As soon as you’ve been cleaned I’ll help you put them in place.” She checked him for any remaining hairs, before pulling him back off the bench.

By now he crawled into the tub without the need for an added command. She knew he still didn’t like it and would have avoided it if he could. It’s why she’d made sure to remove every single toilet from the cloister. He already knew how to use one of those, and he needed to get away from being dependent on them. After all, if Castiel took him along to a meeting with any god other than Aphrodite, he’d be a disgrace on her good name if he expected any of them to use the kind of toilets he was used to from his life in the wild.

She’d gotten his enema up to three bags by now and she watched him cringe as he knelt in the bath, letting the fluid soak his innards for at least half an hour before giving him permission to let go. He peed as well as releasing the enema and she caressed his neck in approval.  
He kept his hands on the side of the tub, she’d found that was the best method to keep them out of the way. She cleaned his genitals and thighs first before continuing on to the rest of him. After draining the basin, she used the spray and cleaned his genitals a second time, this time more thoroughly. He just stared at her hands, as if watching her handle some odd object, instead of a part of himself.

He crawled out of the basin as soon as she let him, his naked feet shivering on the cold laundry room tiles. She pulled out a small bag with the tools she’d need as he climbed up on the table. “Just lie down, face up.” By the time she turned around, she barely had to correct his position, moving up his legs so they rested wide open on the table, lifting up his genitals to her view.

She knew she could use the chair in the training room for this, but she preferred keeping that for the future, doing this in the bathroom was more relaxed, made it more a part of his daily care, rather than something special to be feared.

“This next bit might hurt, mostly because I don’t think you’ve ever been sounded, or have you?”   
He mouthed the word ‘sounded’, as if trying to figure out what she was talking about. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” Dean asked. She gave him a soft pat on the shoulder.

“Some humans do. I’m hoping for your sake that you’re one of them.” In fact her own pet had begged her for a piercing involving a sound, said he liked the feel of it in his dick. She’d indulged him, mostly because she liked the look of it.

Dean was shivering, the hair left on the back of his neck stood up as if expecting him to be hurt. But he didn’t try to get away, not even when she pulled out the wand she was planning to use and cleaned it on the sink in front of him. She could have started with the butt plug, but he’d already had some of those inside of him. Best to start with the sound, then while he was distracted by that, she could try out the larger plug she had set ready for today. 

“Do you want a gag, or do you think you can keep quiet on your own?”

“Where do you plan to put that thing?” he asked, his eyes wide open, not letting the wand out of his sight..

“Inside your penis. “ She shook the wand to dry it off. “It works like a catheter and will plug your urinary tract, making it so you can’t urinate until I allow it.”

He was staring more worriedly at the thing now. Trembling visibly

“Does that worry you?” she asked, putting down the wand and placing her hand on his thigh, feeling his heartbeat thumping madly in his veins.

“Alistair, he used something like that sometimes. Only his had knives or hooks on the outside”  
“Who’s Alistair?” She asked even as she followed the connection inside his mind. Dean looked away from her and she pulled up his face. “Answer me, pet.” She didn’t like being harsh with Dean, but she knew well enough that sometimes he reacted better to authority, than to kind questions.

Dean was full out shivering now. “A demon.” He finally whispered. Images of red and pain flittering behind his eyes.

She clicked her tongue in disgust. Demons were abominations, horrendous disfigurements of humans souls, broken and shattered into insanity and loving it. They were why the lone god had banished his brightest son, because of the way he’d twisted the gods favorite creation. And they were the things that hounded Dean in his nightmares.

“He was …my master, when I was in hell.” She heard him swallow as if his mouth had suddenly turned dry, thick dark smoke with white eyes pushed into him in his mind, and she caressed his neck to encourage him to continue. “I was in his hands for forty years. The first thirty, he’d cut and slice into me, do things… “ Dean’s voice broke on almost every word and she could imagine what a monster like that would do, the name even sounded familiar. “He broke me.” Dean whispered. “Every day he’d ask me the same question, told me that if I wanted the pain to end, all I had to do was take up the knife. I tried to fight him, for thirty years I fought him, and then I gave in. And I…”She almost flinched at the images before her, souls screaming as Dean cut into them, slicing all the pain he’d suffered into the corrupted souls put in front of them, their blood spattering on his soul, desperately trying to taint him, yet failing.

She could see that he couldn’t talk on, and she knew enough now not to force him to continue down that path. “Nobody would have held out that long, sweetie. Even Prometheus didn’t hold on to his pride that long.”

“It’s what broke the first seal. If I hadn’t broken, if I hadn’t given in, Lilith wouldn’t have been able to start breaking the seals, Ruby wouldn’t have tempted Sam into breaking the last one, and Lucifer wouldn’t have gotten out. I should have held out, like my Dad did.” The shame came off of him in waves and she couldn’t help herself from hugging the poor boy.

“Oh Dean… “ She didn’t say any more, knowing him well enough by now that he wouldn’t respond well to pity. “How did you get out?” Because no normal human soul would have gotten out without a lot more damage than the little bit of taint he had on him.

“Castiel. He saved me.” Dean whispered. His mind whispering of a brilliant light coming down to him, grabbing hold of his soul and carrying him out. And she understood now that regardless of what else Dean might feel about the new God, that was a basis she could work out of . Because whatever else Dean might have come to think of Castiel, part of his soul would never forget that with Castiel came salvation. “He grabbed me tight and raised me from perdition.” The way he said it, it was clear he was quoting another. 

“Dean, do you trust me?” 

He looked down, refusing to meet her eyes.

“Yes.” He finally said, as if he couldn’t quite believe it himself.

“Then trust me on this. Whatever I may or may not do to you, is ultimately for your own good. It may on occasion hurt, you may feel humiliated or hungry or cold. But I would never do anything, just for the sake of torturing you.” He leaned into her touch and she enjoyed touching his skin. “And if I did, I’m sure your Master would smite me so hard that my grandchildren would feel it.“ 

He giggled at that, there was a note of hysterics in it, but it was understandable as a way to release the tension of the moment.

“I think I’d like to be gagged.” Dean said, his hand touching the symbiote on his throat. “Even the thought of that thing coming anywhere near my dick makes me want to scream.” But there was a hint of humor in his tone now. 

She grabbed two gags, one with a dildo that would fill the boy’s throat, and one that was nothing more than a ball gag. Hesitating between the two for a second. Sure she could ask the symbiote to gag him, but it would help the boy to have something physical to resist against.  
“Try not to bite too hard on this one.” She said, as she made him swallow the dildo gag. It wasn’t enough, not large enough to make a grown man gag, but enough to keep his tongue and lips busy. She bound the gag around the back of his head and returned her focus to the sound. It was the thinnest of her set, the pet’s body wasn’t ready for anything larger. Especially considering the pet’s previous bad experience with sounds. Hearing about it only made her despise demons even more. It was a matter of luck that the demon in question hadn’t ruined the pet in front of her for all time. She had a long list of beings that she’d never train a pet for, silently, she put whatever demon did that to Dean on the top of her list.

She took hold of the pet’s dick, blowing softly on the flesh in her hand before she picked up the lubed up sound and gently pressed it in, feeling Dean tense up as she did so. She noticed his hands holding on to the table, if he were any stronger she was sure, she’d be able to see the indentations of his fingers in the metal. She could have tied him up for this, but she liked that she didn’t have to. She spoke to him gently, telling him how well he was doing, what a good boy he was, how proud his master would be of him. All the time his lips were sucking on the dildo, barely managing to keep his teeth from biting into it. When the wand was fully in place, and she removed her hands, he sank down on the table, finally forgetting all pretense of strength. He looked gorgeous in his surrender. She told him so and he actually blushed, surprising them both. She used her magic to alter the wand so it would safely stay in place, even without a piercing. She’d have to talk to Castiel about whether or not he wanted his pet pierced, it would make it easier to use a long term sound if she did.

Dean was breathing harshly when she was finished and she caressed him gently, helping him through the overflow of sensation. When he finally calmed down she spread his legs apart, eased her finger in his crack, moving up to the anus and gently opening it up. Dean put his feet on the table, lifting his ass a bit without any commands needed from her, making it easier for her to continue. She gently petted him to show her approval of his cooperation. After the past two weeks of training him she’d realized a few things about the man that she wouldn’t have suspected from the start. One, he was horribly insecure, oh sure, he played a good act of being tough and pretending he was full of himself, but in reality his opinion of himself was so deep in the drain that it might as well be on the other side of the planet. He loved his brother more than life itself. And last but not least, no matter how hard he tried to hide it, he utterly loved, needed, no more than that, he’d been left hungry for touch for most of his life.  
Somehow despite his wanton hedonism and tendency to sleep with every woman that showed even the least bit of interest, he was horrendously touch starved. In fact, the two were probably related. But because his one night stands had been so empty, they never truly managed to fill the gaping void inside of him. And his pride wouldn’t allow him to seek that touch in the one person that might have satisfied it. 

She’d have to make it clear to Castiel that it would be up to him to take up that burden now. She smeared a bit of ointment on the muscles, preparing him thoroughly, before grabbing the butt plug. The plug was larger and broader than any of the ones she’d been using on Dean so far, she could feel that he was trying to relax, but even with that there was a sense of resistance as she pushed the plug inside. If this was a purely sexual training, she’d be making sure to hit his prostate with every push, but since this was continence training, she only made sure to hit it once, just enough to help him associate the plug with pleasure. 

Once it was in, she secured the plug in the same way she’s done with the sound, making sure it wouldn’t move until she allowed it to. Then she removed the gag, noticing several bite marks in the dildo. She fixed the gag without a further mention. Normally she’d punish him for using his teeth on a toy, but she wasn’t cruel enough to do that to a pet who was doing his best, especially in something that held such painful memories for him.

Dean was panting for a moment, before he sat up, cringing as he did. He’d get used to it. This would be far from the last time for him to be plugged. And he still had five sizes to go up, before he reached the normal size plug for a full grown pet. 

“How do you feel?”

“Full.” He said, while looking down at his dick for a second, before turning his eyes to the floor, his hands resting on the table, as far away from his dick as possible, which was a positive yet unforeseen side effect. “That sound thing hurts a bit, but not as much as…”

“Not like Alistair’s? Good.” Who knows, after a few weeks she might even force the bad memories out of his head. She pulled him off the table and on his feet, Dean took a second to find his balance and then he seemed to hesitate on how to stand comfortably with the plug in between his cheeks. She corrected his stance for a moment before leading the way out to the main room. Dean followed and went to his knees as soon as she stopped, cringing as his ass hit his heels.   
She left both plugs in all through their regular routine, ordering him in the positions that should be almost natural to him by now. And watching as he hesitated and cringed through them, forcing himself to get back into them over and over, without her having to say a single word about it, Sometimes Castiel’s pet made her want to steal him and keep him for her own. But then she remembered what Castiel did to Braggi when the Norse god of poetry refused to bow down before the new god and thought against it. 

There was a shiver underneath Dean’s skin that made her want to coddle him, either to keep him warm or to let him know he had nothing to be scared of. Even if she knew without a shred of doubt that the second was wrong. It’s why she was so insistent on getting the boy’s training right. She’d seen signs of Castiel’s temper. She’d seen what he did to that town in Michigan when their pastor refused to acknowledge Castiel as the new god, calling him the antichrist instead. He’d given them one chance, to turn out their pastor and bow down before him, and when they refused… there had been nothing left but smudges of blood and ruins. There had been almost a thousand people in that town. Men, women, children, … to kill them all and then waste it all, to just let their flesh rot in the ground, put their suffering in the winds and cast their souls into hell, it was a horror beyond anything Despoine could imagine. The only ones that had gotten any mercy were the children’s souls, those he’d sentenced to a purgatory of eternal service, their souls forced to remain on earth until they learned the humility to bow before their god.

At least when Castiel went after the Klu Klux Clan, there had been a purpose to it… over the top as it might be. But a lot of Castiel’s other cleansings seemed to come out of nowhere, to the point that even the God committing them couldn’t explain why he’d done what he did in the first place. And asking him only riled him up, so she didn’t bother trying that again.  
If making Dean a perfectly conditioned and trained pet was the prize to keep him safe, to keep them all safe, it was one she was gladly willing to pay. After all, it was only for the boy’s own good. 

She let her hands wander down his chest, twisting his nipples as he tried to stay still, knees spread apart, hands on his back. He was just so incredibly sensitive, and then as she let one hand go down to his genitals and he gasped for breath, losing form, she tapped his dick before returning her hands to her laptop. She grinned at his look of indignation, and reached out to his balls, cupping them for a moment, feeling him still, freezing… until suddenly his stomach betrayed him with a loud rumble.

“Seems like somebody’s hungry.”

Dean shivered, she could see it on the tip of his tongue, the urge to tell her he didn’t have breakfast that morning. To complain that he was ‘starving’. But he held in.

“Tell me about you, Dean.”

He stared up at her in shock. 

“Tell me one thing about you that I don’t know, and I’ll see about getting you a bite to eat.” She didn’t even bother to read his mind.

“Like what?”

“Anything, for example, my favorite song in all the world is an English lullaby, called Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I never understood why either.”

He looked at her as if she’d gone crazy, turned his eyes away until his stomach rumbled again. He was silent for about a minute more, and then he said. “I like pie.”

“Pie?”

“Apple pie, blueberry, even rurharb, if it’s pie, I love it. But not cake, cake is a sorry excuse for pie.” She could almost feel herself sitting in the booth of a St Louis dinner, to put her teeth in the crust of the pie, to let the taste of fruit and sugar linger on his lips, knowing he could eat all of it and remember his mother’s pie in every crumb.

“Pie…” She smiled at the idea, considering if she could bring him some in reward some day. Then she pulled her lunch box out of her bag and put it on the table, opening the separate compartments. Her sandwiches on the left side, fruit and vegetables in the middle and some cold potatoes and chicken bits on the other side. 

She bit into the bread and sank down in the chair, cringing at the lingering feelings of betrayal passing through the comfort of a gentle nurturing hand that went from comfort to death. She groaned at her mother’s insistence. She must have pushed the new meat in amongst the rest of the meat when Becca had come in for groceries. She wondered if the girl even knew what it was that she’d handled as she prepared her mistress lunch. Sometimes Despoine wondered at the still broken look on the young girl’s face, wishing she could be at home to train the teenager herself.

She took another bite of her bread. As if to make sure that she wasn’t mistaken. Some of the herd were still shocked when they realized what their service meant, maybe she’d confused that shock with betrayal, but she threw the bread on the table when she got another feel of the sacrifice. Young, born in the wild, and so so happy to have found someone to take care of her. And then…

She removed the meat and pushed it in the paper bag that had held the rest of the bread before picking up a small cherry tomato. Dean had been staring at the food, even at the meat she discarded of, probably thinking she was being cruel. She didn’t have the heart to tell him what kind of meat he was eying. He quickly turned down his eyes when he noticed her watching him.   
She held the tomato in front of his face and pushed it up to his lips. “Careful.” She whispered. He opened his mouth and had to grab for the food with his tongue, licking her fingers and nearly biting her as his teeth caught on to the tomato.

She tutted at him, and repeated her command to be careful, noticing that even though he still winced as he sat back on his heels, he seemed to be more comfortable with the butt plug than he’d been earlier. She took a bite of her sandwich and fed him bits and pieces out of her lunch, glad she’d planned ahead in regards to the quantities. Giving him one bite for every three of her own. She knew he needed more, but it was a matter of teaching him priorities, of seeing the hand feeding as the treat it was, overfeeding him with it would make him rely on it far more than he should. 

But for every bite she gave him, she’d ask him questions. His full name, middle name and all for a piece of radish, his favorite drink in return for some carrots. When he answered beer, she shook her head, even if she didn’t dare tell him that if it were up to her, he’d never have another drop of the stuff. Dean was a good pet, practically born for it in fact. Even if he did still bite her fingers every few attempts to get at the food. But she could see it in his mind, the habit forming during childhood, watching his father drown his sorrows. It’s the thing with children, they learn their coping habits from their parents, after all, where else could a wild human learn them? Just mentioning the word beer, she could read the desire for it in his mind, the need to have a quick shot just to cope with everything that had been happening to him. 

Just one glass, his mind screamed, just one drop and he could lose himself, forget who and what he was even if only for a second. Just one taste and he could drown his pain over the loss of his brother, no matter how little sense it made to mourn a man who’d never be sad, never suffer for the remainder of his life. 

He didn’t just want a drink, he needed it, he was desperate for it. Even after his owner had cleansed his body of its physical need for the stuff. But as always, the mind mattered more than the body. 

Some pets could drink, just a bit of fun, a nice way to get warm, to lose themselves and relax. But Dean wasn’t like them and never would be. The only one who didn’t understand that, didn’t want to understand that, was Dean, and humans were too much like children to ever completely understand their own desires. 

She grabbed some of the chicken and noticed that he was almost starting to drool at the look of it. “What is Castiel to you, Dean?”

Dean stopped, startled.

She repeated her question, simple in the same wordings, before putting the chicken between her own lips. Enjoying the taste.

“My Master?” Dean answered. Answering not with the truth of his soul, but with the truth he thought she wanted to hear. He earned points for giving the correct answer, even if it wasn’t the right one, not yet at least.

“What else?” She pulled off some more of the chicken, teasing him with it. 

“My owner.” He tried again, still not the right answer. “My God… my…”

“What is he to you, Dean? Beyond all that?”

Dean stared at her in horror, so terrified of answering it with a truth he didn’t know himself. “Family.” He whispered “He was a friend, like a brother, like… But he betrayed us, betrayed me.” He started shaking, no longer even staring at the chicken, ignoring it almost as if it were evil.

She soothed him with words and gentle touches to his head and neck, before feeding him the remainder of the chicken.“He’s not your friend anymore, Dean.”

Dean snorted at that. 

“He never was, he couldn’t be, no matter how much he might have wanted to be. Even as an angel he was above you, he couldn’t be your equal, because in order to do so, he would have had to debase himself, make himself less than he was.”

“Because I’m nothing more than a mere measly human. I get it, I’m beneath him, I’m dirt. I should be lucky to be honored to be near him. I don’t need the speech, Mistress, I already know it by rote.” The disrespect ran off of his tone and if he’d been any other pet, she’d have dragged him over the table and given him a caning for the disrespect alone. But he was Dean and she could see the pain, the suffering beneath the words.

“There’s nothing mere about being human, Dean. And humans are far more than dirt. Human pets especially.”

He snorted again, and she slapped his ass as a reminder to keep his manners.

“Have you ever had a pet, Dean?”

He shook his head, and she wondered how to explain this to someone who’d never even dealt with the concept of pets, of what they were beyond objects to own.

“Bobby’s dogs were the closest we ever came to having any.” Dean finally whispered. She could see the animals in his head, feeding them, walking them, the dogs running up to them, happy to see them, even as they barked at any stranger stupid enough to come near. And then she saw their faces replaced by Lilith’s hounds, hunting him down, tearing him to pieces, heard their barking increase with every second as the hour came closer.

“Do you think Bobby Singer cared for his dogs, Dean?”

Dean shrugged, “sure”, he said.

“I’d say that as with many pet owners, his dogs were his family, they were cared about, loved. But they weren’t his friends, weren’t his equals, not truly.”

“And we’re heading back to lapdog territory.” Dean snarked, she slapped him again, this time hard enough to make him wince.

“Castiel may never be your equal, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care, the very fact that he hired me, shows he wants to be a good pet owner, he wants to do this right. But he doesn’t really know how, anymore than you do. You’re not worthless, Dean, far from it. You are the beloved pet of a mighty god. That already gives you more value than most of the remainder of humanity will ever have. Don’t ever disparage that, or yourself.”

He stayed in place, she stood up, stretching her legs. “You may finish the rest of the food, just don’t touch the meat I got rid of, believe me, you don’t want to eat it either.”

“Why not?” not that he grabbed for the bag, he still just sat there, poking at the vegetables, before grabbing another piece of chicken.

She was quiet for a few minutes, wondering if she should answer him before or after he’d eaten. But he barely even poked at the food, waiting for her response. She hardened her heart.

“It used to belong to a prostitute that my eldest found in Peoria.” She didn’t need to look at Dean to know he stopped eating , pushed away the food and got to his feet as far away from the plate as he could get without looking as if he tried to get away from her.

“Can I go back to my crate, mistress?” he asked, it sounded like there was a lump in his throat. She ordered the symbiote to relax his throat before he lost his lunch, moving the food to his stomach, because he’d need it too much. Dean meanwhile simply stood there, waiting for her to approve, for her to attach his leash, she didn’t. “You can go.” He stared at her, hardly believing her, yet somehow relieved not to have to feel her touch on him. She could feel it coming off of him before he walked up to the door, heading to his room, to his crate and crawling in, curling up in the corner, dry heaving as if he wanted to get rid of whatever was left in his throat, but it was already gone. She waited until she felt him where he belonged, before she locked the crate, picked up the food and discarded of it.


	10. Chapter 10

“What do you think Bob? Think you can do it?”

Nobody was answering, and for a moment, Despoine wondered who’d gotten into the room . She grinned as she opened the room and realized that Dean was alone, alone with his symbiote who was currently a gorgeous dark red formed as a bracelet around its human’s wrist. 

"That's a good whatever you are, now try for blue. You know like the damn butt plug that Mistress left inside of me last night." The symbiote hesitated a second before changing again, Dark blue this time. It wasn’t exactly the color of the plug, but still a pretty good approximation. It was nice to see a pet get along with his symbiote this well. Most of them kept fighting the symbiote to such a degree, that the symbiote ended up with some degree of resentment. It usually took them until at least a year after training, before the two of them were in synch again. Dean had managed to skip all that and was already in the friends stage. 

She could imagine he did that a lot, charm whomever he met. It was a good trait to have for a pet.

Oh the symbiote would still obey her commands over Dean’s, but now it would do so for Dean’s sake, to protect him, and not just because she told it to. It was a good thing. It was almost a pity that Dean flinched when he saw her entering the room, it didn’t stop him from leaving the crate when she told him to. Nor did it hinder him in regards to following her orders as she set him through his paces during the morning portion of their routine. She could see he was slightly twitchy and almost scared of her touch, the first coming from an obvious need to go to the toilet, while the second…

“I didn’t like the taste of that meat anymore than you did, you know.” She suddenly said as Dean was trying to stay balanced, settled on his feet, his knees bent, ass resting in the air, inches above his feet. He didn’t answer, but he did look up at her, hesitating a second, clearly wanting to say something, but not daring to do so. 

“Come on, Dean, spit it out.”

“So it wasn’t because she was a working girl?”

Working girl? It took her a moment to remember the vernacular. She let out a giggle at that. 

“Well you never know where they’ve been.” Dean said, clearly trying to hide his horror behind a joke. 

“It doesn’t work that way, Dean. Besides, knowing my son, he probably would have kept her for a month, cleaning her up and fattening her before slaughtering her.”

It was clearly the wrong thing to say, but she petted his hair, caressing his back. Helping him settle after he almost fell. There was a hitch in his breath. Even if he kept quiet. 

“Then how does it work?” she could see his hands linked behind his back twitching to do something, anything.

“You do realize you can’t save any of them, don’t you Dean?” But she could see it in his eyes, that no matter what she’d tell him, part of him would still think it was his responsibility to save everyone.

“I’m not…” he tried, but she interrupted him before he could finish

“Of course you are. “ she patted him on the head to make it clear she didn’t mind.   
Dean looked away, goosebumps on his skin.

“You knew I’m a god, Dean.” He nodded, he was a hunter, she could guess he didn’t need to have things spelled out to him. “We survive on sacrifice. It used to be that people’s very worship would sustain a god for years. But then the new religion came and our strength weakened. ‘We’ still thrived, as those of our followers who remained filled themselves with their conviction, giving themselves and their children over to us when needed. It’s the emotion that we fed on, you see, not necessarily the flesh.”

“Is that how you knew what that woman had been?” He made the connection faster than a lot of beings far higher on the food chain than humans were, would have.

“By touching her flesh, yes. I never met her, not in life, but I’m sure that when Orion processed her meat, he gave at least half of the carcass to my mother for her staff’s uses. 

“Half of the body. The bastard murdered her.”

“Dean.”

She could see the revulsion in his soul, that sense of disgust with her and her kind, almost breaking apart the trust she’d been building in him over the past few weeks. The way he thought of gods, pagan gods as he called them, as if they fell unto such easy classifications, as if somehow they were less because of it. 

“Are humans monsters, Dean?” He glared at her in response. “You eat meat, have eaten meat your entire life. How many cows, chickens, sheep, … how many were murdered so you could feed on them.”

“That’s different.” But he was wavering, insisting more out of a sense of … human pride than any true logic.

“Why?”

“It just is. They’re animals.”

“Compared to us, so are you.” He flinched and she gently let her fingers caress his spine. “It’s a matter of perspective, Dean. Do you think animals don’t have hopes, expectations, dreams? All those things he only saw from a oh so human point of view. Things he thought only his own kind possessed. 

“My son isn’t a cruel man. He’s a hunter, but as he’s beloved by Artemis, his prey is chosen with care. He takes the weak, the suffering, and for months he gives them kindness, a caring hand. He nourishes them, gives them a full belly, shows them they’re worth something to him. When he finally asks them for their sacrifice, they’ll gladly follow him to the table. Their deaths are quick, merciful, and their souls and meat serve in sacrifice to their gods. It’s a better life than most humans could ever hope for. “

“So what, that makes it ok? To give them hope, to let them think things are getting better and then betray and murder them?” Dean seemed so angry, glaring at her, she grabbed his chin, he didn’t fight. 

“Would it have been better to let them die on the street, their bodies wasting away in the gutters, or to rot in the grave where only maggots would have any use of them?”

Dean bit his lip. 

“Then why don’t you eat it, if you think it’s such an all American thing to do?”

She laughed full out, it sounded so much like something her own mother would have asked her. She fought the grin back though when she saw his reaction to it. She placed her hand on his back, feeling his heartbeat hammering just under his skin.

“Because the taste of lost dreams doesn’t appeal to me”, she admitted with a grin. “I prefer my meals to be docile, looking forward to being eaten, than to have their last moment filled with fear.” She couldn’t help a smile as she remembered members of the herd feeding out of her hand as she led them to the slaughterhouse on the farm’s grounds. 

“So you don’t indulge in the old soylent green too often then?” 

“I eat often enough.” And more often than he’d think. Her mother’s humans had been tamed to the point that far too many of her fellow gods thought of them as bland and tasteless . It’s why so many gods rather went out to hunt in the wild, risking the wrath of Hunters above the riskless flesh her family offered for sale. It’s why even with plenty of supply of meat still at the farm, so many of her family still hunted in the wild, to spice up their supply. They couldn’t allow for Oberon to overtake the market with his bargained meat.

Dean tried to stay quiet after that, but with every passing second his twitching got worse, making it hard for him to stay in position. When he fell over on his knees, she helped him back up, hearing him groan as she put him back in position.

“Just a bit longer, Dean.” She whispered.

“I can’t, mistress, please, I got to go or I’ll burst.”

“Shhh, just a short while longer, you’ll see, it’ll be over before you know it. “ She refused to give him a time though, knowing that if this was for real, he wouldn't be given a time limit. He'd have to wait for his master to complete his business and to have the time to take care of his pet regardless of how long that took.

An hour later Dean had fallen over twice more and each time he had begged 'Please Mistress, I need to go, it hurts.' Each time Despoine had told him 'No' and she had ordered the symbiote around Dean's neck to tighten and emit a pulse of pain each time he opened his mouth to beg again. For the moment he was silent but resentful. 

Now she was picking up distressed signals from the symbiote around Dean's neck. It was transmitting more distress from Dean than just him simply needing to pee. He was dangerously dehydrated too, having failed to drink all the time he'd been in his cage and alone. Annoyed she walked across the room to where she kept spare bottles of water. She picked one up and returned to crouch in front of Dean. Seeing what she was holding he dropped to his knees again and shook his head 'No'. 

"Pet you will drink." Again she instructed the symbiote to control Dean's movements and she tipped the bottle into his panting mouth and slowly poured the water in. He gagged but the symbiote began a rhythmic pulsing that encouraged him to swallow. She kept him drinking until the bottle was empty. "Now get back into position and hold it until I say you may move." Dean glared at her, but a short pulse from the symbiote reminded him not to speak as he struggled back into the uncomfortable position.

“I’m going to give you another bottle, if you manage to drink it and stay quiet, I’ll think about relieving you in about an hour.” Dean shook, begging her with his eyes, but when he realized she was serious, he nodded his head. He licked his lips and opened them around the tube of the water bottle, draining it drop by drop. Licking up even the last drops that threatened to fall from his lips. 

It didn’t take long to finish her mail after that, three more requests for help with training disobedient pets, a message from her father asking her for her opinion on Castiel, and what she thought the council of gods should do in regards to him.

She answered the messages and turned her attention back on Dean. 

He was still in position, biting his lips, hands clutching desperately behind his back, his thighs tense and on the edge of shivering. She patted his head and pulled out his leash. His eyes shone with tears and desperation. She waited a second to see what he’d do, He crouched closer towards her, almost begging her to attach the leash

There was a sheen of sweat on his skin, reminding her that he was urgently in need of a bath. She checked with the pet’s owner for a second before getting up from her bench. 

Dean looked at her, as if he wasn’t even sure what she wanted him to do. He actually seemed surprised when she ordered him to get up. He shouldn’t be, she was training a man, not a dog, and crawling might be good and well for a four legged animal, but she wasn’t planning on ruining his back any time soon.

She wasn’t using his regular leash, the chain on that one was strict and enough to control any new pet. But it wasn’t well suited for what she had planned, so she’d replaced it with one of those newfangled leashes, the ones invented by humans, that allowed you to lengthen or shorten the human’s reach, making it easier to give a pet a chance to stretch his or her legs, while making it possible to pull them closer in case of danger. She had replaced the paw print that the leash had came with, for a human hand print in a gorgeous pink.

She lead him to the front door and he seemed to almost hesitate in following her out.

“Is something wrong, Dean?”

He hesitated a moment before answering. “I’m not supposed to be out, am I? Cas … Master said…”  
She petted him for wanting to follow his master’s orders, and smiled at him. “It’s fine, Dean. I asked your owner if I could take you out for a walk. He agreed with me that you needed some sunlight and a breath of fresh air.”

A smile went to Dean’s lips almost unconsciously, as if he hadn’t dared admit the need for that to himself. “So where are we going?”

“To the garden. I’m sure your Master will love to see you visiting him while he’s at work.”  
Dean was almost eager to get outside, the desire for a change of scenery, and the chance to get away from the thick walls almost overpowered his bladder’s need for relief. She figured she could further instruct him on proper behavior while walking on a leash, but she wanted to see how he’d behave first, before working on his manners.

Considering how happy he seemed to be to be allowed outside for the first time since he’d accepted Castiel’s ownership, he wasn’t too intolerable. Not that he was staying with her as he should in polite company, but he wasn’t pulling his leash any more than could be written off as accidental and he wasn’t constantly getting his leash tied around objects forcing her to waste time untangling it like some pets did. 

She could see that he figured that any bad behavior from him now could ruin his chances of being allowed outside in the future. It wouldn’t, but she decided not to correct his mis-assumption. Not when it was so useful. 

They moved up to the back porch, leaving out on the large gardens surrounding the entire mansion. At first they just passed patches of flowers and shrubbery, all of it forming patterns showing the rational mind of the owner of the mansion even as the order kept getting interrupted whenever they ran into any of the creatures currently begging their new lord and gods attention. The alphas and their children, the leaders of the vampire clans, the lesser alphas of the main skinwalker packs, all of them trying to gain some degree of Castiel’s favor. Either showing him their respect, or begging him to increase their allotted numbers. 

It had taken Castiel almost a year before he realized the one big problem in ending all hunger, war and illness from humanity, the world simply couldn’t handle the resulting over population. Despoine wondered if Dean even realized how much time had passed since he handed himself over to Castiel’s care. In his own mind, Dean had been in the monastery for about three months, in reality he’d been there for close to two years. 

And things had changed on the outside world. People now realized to whom they owed their wellbeing and they praised Castiel for his gentle keeping. But humans weren’t the only ones who owed Castiel service. 

When the beings deemed for purgatory recognized him as their new god, his first command had been to stop feeding. Those who fought him on his commands had ended up dying for their pride. But with humanity’s increased well being their numbers started to increase as well. Castiel had had no choice but to change his edict, giving each species specific numbers, amounts of humans they were allowed to hunt to feed themselves and their young. Not nearly enough for many of them, but obviously more than their god had wanted them to have in the first place. 

He’d given them rules too, rules they had to abide with, no matter how much they begged him otherwise. No children, and only those who were weak, ill or suffering in life, not unless they picked those dark of heart, those who’s dark desires would have led them to hell. Culling the herd of those that would do it harm in the long run, most humans didn’t even realize they were being maintained. 

There were some of her own kind who were amongst those asking for a change in their numbers, knowing Castiel had claimed all free humans as his own. Despoine didn’t really care, Castiel hadn’t said a word about her family’s tamed humans and she’d stopped hunting amongst the wild ones for food centuries ago.

But it was individual gods that pleaded him, not the council as a whole. All the council cared about were the one hundred and forty four thousand that Castiel had offered them in exchange per each individual favor they had done for him. Seven times one hundred forty four thousand to be spread over a period of five hundred years and to be shared across the gods. The riskless restoration of seven human lives were a low price to pay compared to what they got in return. Seven humans to be brought back without consequences. Seven humans whose safety and that of their offspring would be guaranteed for all time and in exchange the gods could take humans who fell outside of the regular rules and do with them as they pleased. The only exception, those seven and those humans of the special bloodlines who could serve as vessels to angels.

Despoine had hardly even bothered to learn the names of the seven in question, apparently they mattered to Castiel and that was all she cared about. Well that and apparently Sam Winchesters wife was one of them. Despoine wondered what was so important about her that Castiel had been so quick to agree to pay the price for her. It’s not like Sam couldn’t have found another woman to love and spend his life with. 

It didn’t matter. She took Dean through the garden, letting his eyes wander around the grounds as he kept his hands behind his back, seemingly desperate not to touch himself. Several of the beings on the grounds, both high and low ogled the pet, enjoying the view. And not all of them did so because they appreciated his beauty. She couldn’t understand why any being would hate a specific human. It was like hating a dog that bit you or a horse that kicked you. Sure they might have caused some trouble, but they were only animals, any being with some common sense would expect them to try and defend what little lives they had to live.

But then again, some of the filth daring to speak up to Castiel were barely above humans themselves, some of them, she hated to admit were even below humans in worth, and the only reason she didn’t destroy them, was because they were here under Castiel’s protection. Stupid cockroaches that thought themselves worth something because they fed on humans, so did worms, but she wasn’t about to see those as equals either.

The new god was holding an audience near a well of water, well, he had company, but it didn’t seem like he was paying them much attention. Instead she noticed he was caring for a single flower, new in creation, that he was giving the strength to spread across the garden. The two Shtriga with him, started to yell, he wasn’t paying them any mind. When one of them attacked, Castiel kept him in place in the cold air, lifted him up to the sky where he crunched together, until nothing was left but a blotch of black smudge. The other Shtriga just stood there, shaking in fear. And when Castiel asked him if their business was finished the creature instantly agreed and left, scraping and bowing all the way out until he was out of the god’s direct line of sight.

Dean stood frozen in front of his owner, Despoine gave him a gentle tug, and noticed there was a smile fighting to break free behind the human’s lips. She wondered if it was for seeing a Shtriga get killed or… Castiel turned towards them and got up. Her training seemed to have worked off somewhere at least since Dean went to his knees as soon as he noticed his master’s eyes falling on him. Castiel suddenly stood next to them, staring at Dean, inspecting his pet’s body before mechanically placing his hand on Dean’s shoulder, touching his cheek for a second, pushing a finger in between Dean’s lips, allowing the human to suckle on his master’s digit.   
Despoine was glad to see that he remembered her lesson on Dean and touching, that the best way to get Dean to love him, would be by indulging the human’s desperation for physical touch. But it didn’t seem an easy thing for the god to actually commit to. 

Dean held his eyes down, but Despoine could see how tensed up he was, she wondered if Castiel did, if he didn’t, she’d have to spend another day teaching him the signs of how to recognize desperate needs in his pets. It wouldn’t do for her to train the perfect pet, and then have the pets owner ruin it all because he didn’t bother to look after his pet. Pet ownership after all was a two way street. The pet gave him or herself to their owner, but by doing so, the owner him or herself made a promise as well, to look after their pets need and see to it that their pet was happy, healthy and safe. If Castiel couldn’t do that, then he shouldn’t have gotten himself a pet in the first place.

Castiel seemed to notice the wand in Dean’s penis, and was staring at it, seemingly unsure of what to do with it. The first time Castiel had seen Despoine use a butt plug on his pet, he’d come to her asking for the purpose of it. She still didn’t think he understood the use of it, beyond controlling the time and place of Dean’s excretions. 

“Are you in pain?” he suddenly asked Dean.

Dean stared up at him, shivering under his master’s eyes. “No. yes. I just really got to go.”

“Go? Go where?” Oh great Zeus… She prayed that she wouldn’t have to use a diagram to explain things to Castiel.

She was about to interrupt them when Dean answered the question himself. “To the toilet, the potty, to take a leak…”Castiel still didn’t seem to get it. “I need to pee Cas, could you please tell Mistress I can go, I’m begging here.”

Well at least he was aiming his begging at the right person. And she hadn’t even had to suggest it to him, both of which were good things. It would do Dean good to link Castiel to fulfillment of his needs. 

Castiel seemed to be about to magic away the overload on Dean’s bladder when he caught her eyes. She hoped he was getting her message that that would not be the right way to handle this. “Why?” She heard his voice ask her in her head. She just sent him an image of what she wanted him to do. He stared at her utterly befuddled before turning his eyes back on his pet.

“Do you want to go now, Dean?”

“Please.” Dean was pleading with his entire body by now. 

“You may.”

Tears almost formed at Dean’s eyes, but before he could say anything else, Castiel continued.

“Make sure he goes on the grass. I do not believe that human urine is healthy for my flowers.”

Dean stared at his master in shock. “Cas.”

“You said you had to go, Dean. Did I misunderstand?”

Dean seemed frozen in indecision, his urgent need fighting with the remnants of pride and embarrassment, especially as his eyes kept going between Castiel and the other creatures surrounding them. 

Finally he lowered his head and said: “No Master, thank you.”

Despoine knew how much it took from the man to do that, so instead of lengthening his torture, she moved up to him, gently touching his penis and commanding the wand to slip out into her hand. 

“Remember your master’s instructions, Dean.” She told him, waiting to see what he’d do. It seemed to take Dean the ultimate display of will power just to keep from letting go right there and then. Every step he took after that seemed to torture him, as she led him to the grass, slightly away from the carefully designed paths in the garden. A bunch of vampires were talking under the shadow of a tree when one of them spotted Dean.

The Vryokalas looked like a beautiful human woman, mid to late twenties, with long black hair and an air of something that Despoine couldn’t quite define. She took one look at Dean and started sniggering. Dean was desperately trying to avoid the group, though cringing at being seen by her. The vampire wasn’t smart enough to do the same, coming straight at them.

“Well well, if it isn’t the great Dean Winchester.”The sneer on her face was disgusting, taking that beautiful face and distorting it into something ugly, darkness in her eyes only made it worse. “Let me guess, someone finally decided to put you in your place.”

Despoine coughed, pulling the vampire’s attention to herself for the first time. 

“Oh please tell me, you’re here to let him play fetch.” 

Not that playing fetch wasn’t in the future of Dean’s training, but that didn’t mean this creature, this abomination had any right to speak about a proper god trained pet like that. Even a human like Dean was still above a blood ridden corpse like the ‘thing’ in front of her.   
Despoine was just about to simply destroy the creature when she heard the sound of water splattering on the vampire’s velvet pants.

“Oh sorry Kate, I’m not quite housetrained yet.” Despoine had to fight a smile, rewarding Dean for disrespecting his owner’s guests would be a horribly bad thing to do, yet, Zeus she wanted to hug the poor thing for doing the one thing he could still do to stand up for himself.

“Dean…” she forced a strict disciplinary tone in her voice, though she was sure she couldn’t entirely hide the twinkle in her eyes from Dean’s perceptive gaze. “I’m sure your Master specified grass.”

Dean bowed his head, but couldn’t quite hide a grumbled “Well she wasn’t standing on his flowers.”  
The vampire, Kate, finally seemed to unfreeze at that. “You bastard.” She seemed one second away from attacking Dean, not even Despoine’s glare seemed to be able to stop her. “I’m going to rip your throat out, I’m going to…”

“You’re going to what?” And once again Castiel managed to show up out of nowhere, not even the sound of wings warning for his approach.

“My lord, this human he…”

“This human is my personal property, vampire. “ The vampire pulled back in fear, even though the new god hadn’t moved an inch closer. Despoine couldn’t help a smile as she saw the thing in front of her start shivering. “And I do not take well to threats to what belongs to me. Is that understood.”

Despoine wished he’d come in a minute or so later, you know, after she ripped the vampire’s head of her neck, but then again, Castiel might not have appreciated that so much. She threw a quick look at Dean who hadn’t been ashamed of his behavior before, but was now suddenly blushing and embarrassed. Castiel didn’t seem to care though. “Did that fill your need, Dean?”  
A shiver moved across Dean’s spine and he seemed to look at his master’s face for a second before answering. “Not quite, master.”

“Then continue.” Castiel seemed to hesitate between pulling his pet closer and just looking at him sternly. “Only on the grass this time.” He added as if pointing out something that Dean might have missed. Despoine was surprised to actually note a tone of humor on the new god’s voice. She hadn’t thought he was actually capable of it. 

“Despoine.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“I’ve done some research on those tools you use.”

Despoine tilted her head, worried that he was going to tell her to stop using something she’d actually need. She was almost surprised when he handed her a diamond wand. And she didn’t mean a wand covered in diamond, but one actually made out of the material. 

“Use this in the future. “

Then he turned away and left her to look after Dean on her own. Even she wasn’t quite sure what to think of that. The thing was gorgeous, polished so smooth that there wasn’t a single edged surface left, even if she couldn’t imagine a single naturally created diamond that would ever be big enough to have something this flawless made out of it.

“Perfection for perfection.” The words resounded in her head, and she figured that maybe Castiel did realize just what he had in his pet.


	11. Chapter 11

Despoine stood shocked, when she arrived a few days later to find Dean’s crate empty when she opened the door to his rooms. She let her awareness check the ground and sighed in relief when she found Dean’s soul in Castiel’s office. When she walked into the room, the human was staring at the chalice, his back nestled against his master’s legs, while Castiel just stood there, occasionally brushing through the pet’s hair. Dean seemed to be smiling, though slightly confused as he looked at the chalice. 

Despoine stayed quiet, glad that Castiel at least seemed to be paying attention to his pet. She wondered if she should interrupt, or allow Dean to enjoy his time with the chalice, knowing he was probably looking at whatever his brother was up to. 

‘Is something wrong, Dean?” Castiel finally addressed his pet.

“Sam he… he’s saying the marriage is in two months, but… he only got engaged two weeks ago…”

“For him it was over a year ago.” Castiel answered flat out. Dean looked at him. “Time goes different here, than it does outside.”

“Like in hell.”

“Only the other way around.”

Dean seemed to be unsure of what to say about that. “I do not plan to lose you any time soon, Dean. And slowing time like this gives me more time to spend on you, than I’d be able to give you otherwise.”

She could see that the pet wasn’t happy with the answer, but just when he was about to push it, Castiel brushed through his hair and Dean seemed to think better of it. Despoine entered the room carefully, setting down the briefcase she had with her. As far as she was concerned, Castiel’s presence couldn’t have come at a better time. 

The new god looked at her and she carefully opened the case, showing him what was in it. She caught Dean trying to catch a glimpse as well, but a quick look from her made him quickly turn down his gaze. 

Castiel came closer and looked at the items in the case. For once curiosity replaced his general look of confusion.

“These are called grace bells, a good pet can move without having them make a single sound, a perfect pet can play a symphony through motion.” 

Dean’s face was such a clear ‘oh shit’ moment that it couldn’t help but bring a smile to Despoine’s lips.

The first thing she to took out was the ankle cuffs. She held out her hand and Dean quickly held out first his left and then his right foot. The cuffs fused together as soon as they touched, making it impossible for Dean to remove them himself. The bells were attached with a titanium link and just as impossible to remove. 

Second came the cuffs on his wrists, followed by the ones on his forearms.   
All the bells on them were of similar size and made out of different densities. Varying the sound of the bells. Once she was finished with the simpler ones, she held out the piercings for Castiel’s inspection. 

These ones were smaller but would also be the ones most effective for Dean’s training. Two in his ears, one in the cartilage of his left ear, and the second on his right lobe. The one in his lobe was easy enough, there was nothing but flesh there and the piercing went right through without any adverse effects. The other one though, required her to use the symbiote to keep him still enough as she pierced the cartilage. He barely held back a scream as she pushed the needle through. 

They'd be especially effective, because the very sound of them would be right next to Dean's ears, annoying him the more they sounded, nearly impossible to ignore and making him want to keep still just to stop the sound of them.

Their sound was dampened of course, only a fool would want to damage his pet’s ears, but even the lightest sound, repeated often enough did wonders in regards to training.

She finished with a last bell on his bellybutton, feeling Dean’s wince and shiver as she attached it. She petted him, making the bells sound as Dean for now was incapable of keeping still. She limited herself to simply piercing his nipples, putting in a temporary stud in each, knowing that they’d be used in a week from now, once he knew enough not to pull when put on a leash. For now attaching anything to those piercings would be too dangerous. 

Castiel brushed his finger across Dean’s skin and aside of goosebumps , it started a soft clattering of the bells as Dean moved along with it. Despoine watched them for a moment before she ordered Dean to get up on his feet, and he cringed as the bells started up again. “Shake, Dean, let me hear them.” Dean glared at her before shaking himself as if he were a dog trying to dry itself of. The rattle of the bells rang through the room, the sound of each bell reinforcing the others. Dean grabbed for his ears trying to block them out, but it only made things worse. The pain turning physical as well as mental. When the bells finally quieted down to a single ring whenever he moved she made him kneel down again. “That, Dean, is the sound of a wild dog, forcing its way through the world.” Dean cringed whenever a bell rang. “Pets on the other hand are gracious, their every move pre-intended, their every action designed to please their owners.”

“Oh Fuck.” Dean whispered as another bell started clattering. Castiel cringed at he sound of the bells, looking away from Dean in a move of annoyance that felt almost as if Despoine had orchestrated it herself

“It’s up to you to stop the bells, Dean. All you have to do is be graceful, to move either slow or fast without setting off the bells. If you can’t do that, then you have no business being a divine pet.” Dean quickly looked at Castiel who seemed to wait for Dean’s answer. ‘I’m sorry Master, Mistress.” Dean finally whispered, softly lifting up his arm, and wincing as the bells started up again. “But how do I do that, Mistress?” he turned to Despoine. 

She kept her silence for a moment, turning to Castiel, wondering how much of this the pet’s owner would tolerate. Dean was about to brush his fingers along his piercing in his bellybutton and Despoine gently slapped the pet’s fingers away from his stomach, reminding him to let his piercing heal before touching it. With the symbiote’s effort, the piercings would be all healed up in less than a few hours.

She was surprised when Castiel actually stayed around for the next hours of training. He seemed oddly interested in the sound of the bells as she put Dean through his positions, instructing him to try and keep the bells still and correcting him patiently whenever he failed, which was pretty much the entire time. It wasn’t until it was almost time for both their meals that he finally managed to do a full kneel without sounding off every last of the bells. 

When it came to having dinner, Despoine allowed Castiel to feed his pet, giving Dean the chance to show off what he’d learned. Castiel somehow managed to form a sort of pie out of thin air and proceeded to feed it to his pet . From the look of Dean’s face as he tasted the pie, Despoine could imagine why Castiel didn’t even bother having his pet trained for sex, the sounds he made while eating the pie were close enough to compare. 

She suggested he’d take his pet out for a walk after lunch, and Castiel easily agreed. Only instead of taking his pet out to the garden as she’d intended, she found out later that he’d taken the man with him to the grand canyon. When Castiel returned him, ordering his pet to do his best for her, Dean had still looked stunned. She asked him about it and if she hadn’t stopped him, he wouldn’t have been able to quit talking about how awesome their outing had been. Dean had been so impressed by the sight, that he hadn’t had time to be embarrassed by his nudity.

Castiel told her later that they’d ran into a group of tourists while on their trip. Any trouble was quickly stopped when one of the children recognized their god, thanking him for allowing her brother to recover from a surgery he’d had, offering him flowers in tribute. He’d given her his blessing in return. The other humans quickly bowed before him after that.  
Despoine wondered how many of the pictures they’d taken would end up in the gossip columns, Castiel himself hadn’t seemed to care and Dean had surrendered himself to Castiel for protection. He’d seemed more grateful than she’d ever seen him before when Castiel gave him back his jacket as a security blanket, weeping into the leather when he realized it hadn’t been destroyed.

She left early that day, arriving just in time to find out that her brother’s favorite breeder was pregnant. She had looked at the baby growing in the woman’s womb and wished that it was one of hers that was carrying. Becca was eighteen now, her body ripe for childbirth, if only she could get Castiel to lend Dean to her for a few days. She just had to bring it up gently, and back off the second he said no, but then, why would he?


	12. Chapter 12

Castiel made a habit out of coming by more often after that, visiting his pet at least once a day, and listening to the sound of Dean’s bells as the human tried to move with them on. Despoine took the opportunity to show the new god how to handle Dean, making Dean go through the proper positions in the Paidopagis and showing Castiel what they were supposed to look like. After a series of twenty routines Dean would be sweating in exhaustion and Castiel would lay his hand on his human’s back and remove the poison from his veins, making him as fresh as he’d been when he started, before ordering him in another set. 

He would watch as she put Dean on the bench in the bathing room, spread out, naked and open, and Castiel’s eyes would linger on Dean’s flesh as if he didn’t quite believe that the human was there for him. She’d slowly moved Dean on to a larger form of plug, until the one he was wearing now would touch his prostrate whenever he walked or sat down. 

Dean shivered whenever she bumped the plug deeper inside of him, his balls achingly blue as his dick desperately tried to go hard, even with the diamond wand plugging up his pisshole. She gently milked him once a day, but even then she could feel the tension building behind the pet’s balls as he grew more and more aroused with every passing day.

Castiel seemed to notice that something was up, but not quite what. Not until the day that Dean was ready to receive the last of his essential piercings. Dean stared at the titanium rings that she’d brought with her, while touching the bells in his ear. The same ones that had been giving him trouble sleeping all week. “More of them?” he muttered before he could stop himself.

“Do you refuse, Dean?” Castiel asked, his tone strict, demanding. Dean flinched, stared at the piercings and remained in kneel. 

“No, master.” He whispered, the struggle showing in his eyes. 

Castiel’s gaze softened and the new god placed his hand on Dean’s shoulder. Dean leaned back up against his owner, trembling softly. Despoine carefully prepared the rings before telling the boy’s owner to place him on the chair and hold him tight.

It was easy to remove the studs in his nipples, it was harder to put in the titanium links that would strengthen his nipples as well as be impossible to remove. Oh they’d still be sensitive, but it would be almost impossible for even a god to tear off one of the pet’s nipples, just by tugging on his leash too hard.

Despoine could be doing this on the table in the bathroom, but she knew that it would be best to use this pain as an opportunity to teach Dean to rely on Castiel for comfort and strength. With first one nipple then the other she pinched and tugged the bud until she could cleanly slip the needle through the skin and insert the new rings. She listened as Castiel whispered words of comfort to Dean whilst holding him down on the surgical chair with no more than a touch on his shoulder. Dean whimpered and shook making all the bells ring discordantly distressing him further. She checked the other piercings and was pleased to see the healthy flesh surrounding them. The symbiote was doing it’s very best to minimize the pain for Dean, even going as far as carrying some of the pressure on his ears from the bells, easing Dean’s hearing during nighttime so he’d find it easier to sleep, as long as he learned to sleep on his back. Once Dean got used to the feel of the bells, it’d no longer need to do so, but that might be a while off. 

Castiel caressed Dean’s legs, accidentally touching the man’s balls. Dean cringed, moaning in a mixture of need and pain. Despoine sent a mental message to Castiel to continue, watching as Dean grew harder under his master’s touch, momentarily forgetting all about the pain in his nipples. Castiel seemed fascinated by something in Dean’s mind, by the way it played on the man’s body, expressing itself in every whisper, in the way his lips pursed at the touch. 

When Castiel finally let go, Dean was panting. If he hadn’t been plugged, Dean would have been leaking and Despoine figured she would have to milk him after giving him his enema. Castiel seemed to be exploring something and Despoine wasn’t sure what it was exactly that the new god was looking for. Dean’s eyes turned to Castiel, silently pleading at his master for release, without getting it. 

The new god stayed around while Despoine cleaned up his human, watching her in action as she milked the overflow of fluids from Dean’s straining balls. Dean was almost crying when she did so. Despoine knew that it wasn’t just the need for relief, or the pain mixed with pleasure and comfort. Part of it was laying there, spread open for his master’s eyes while his soft dick lay down on the table dripping come into the tub.

She sent him off to the training room to practice with the bells, keeping a mental eye on him as he did so. By now he walked right into the Paidopagis of his own volition, letting it put him through his paces while his mind rested in surrender, merely observing what it’s body was doing and trying to copy the now familiar routine.

“What is it you want?”Castiel’s voice sounded harsh, unflinching, lacking any of the concern it had when he dealt with Dean.

“What do you mean?”

“You want something from me, and you’ve been using Dean to get it. What do you want?” For a moment she actually shivered, fearing what he might do to her.

“I…”

“I will not allow you to harm Dean.” Castiel interrupted her.

“I just wanted to point something out, a need of Dean’s that you’ve been ignoring.” Suddenly she felt a wrist gripping her throat, lifting her up, even though Castiel didn’t move an inch closer. “Humans have needs, and there’s one that’s missing.” 

The grip let go and she fell to the ground. She quickly looked up to see if Dean had noticed. If the human had noticed anything going on behind him, there was nothing showing of it in his perfect posture as he stood in the trap.

“What need?”

“You’ve noticed the pain in his balls, the way I’ve had to milk him to keep his sexual energies from destroying him. Humans, especially the grown ones, rely on regular release. Their hormones practically scream for intimacy in a way that even the gods cannot approach.

Castiel was clearly waiting for her to continue, getting impatient at that.

“He needs sexual release and intimacy, and milking can only solve that problem up to a point.”

“Sex?” Castiel seems confused.

“Yes. He needs to have regular sex, a lack of such could slowly kill him.”

“I can heal him.” Castiel stated.

She pitied his lack of understanding. “It’s not just physical, Castiel, it’s spiritual as well.” She dared to put her hand on him and he glared at her, but didn’t force her hand away from him, she did so on her own. “I understand that sexual needs are … beneath you. But Dean is a physical being and his physical needs are reflected in his spiritual self. I’ve tried to satisfy his needs with triggers and placebos, but eventually those won’t be enough. He’ll need to either lie with another human, or be used by his owner in order to feel complete. “

“You have humans you wish him to lie with?” 

She shrugged, not about to deny that she had some interest in this. “He is of an amazing bloodline, Castiel. To cut that bloodline down, to let it die out… it would be unimaginable.”

Castiel’s mind touched hers and she allowed him in, letting him see the women and men she had at her home. The men eager to please, and the women who would love to carry Dean’s offspring to term if she told them to. She showed him images of what the children might look like, the offer of allowing him to have one of his own, a child of Dean’s to be trained from birth and take the human’s place once he inevitably fell down from old age, no matter how much he tried to stretch time for his pet’s sake. She sent images of the children playing, of many more little Dean’s and Deanna’s filling the playrooms of her home, trained and ready to serve. Of Dean getting to meet his children, getting to play with them …

He let go of her mind and she had to grab on to the nearest surface to keep from falling.

“Dean will not need to be replaced. I have no intentions to allow him to die. Not now, not ever.”

She stared at him, not quite understanding, but willing to back off if that was his decision.

Castiel’s gaze lingered on the door, she knew he was watching Dean as she was.“I will allow you one week. You make take him to your home for breeding purposes. You will allow him the choice of your stock to sleep with."

She nodded, quickly agreeing to his terms, it’s not like she was planning to force him to sleep with a woman he didn’t feel comfortable with. Human bodies always knew best whom they were most compatible with, to force otherwise was never a good idea.

“And when the children are born, you will show them to me and I will decide on what to do with them.” Castiel’s words lingered in her ears, even after the new god had left, it took her half an hour before she dared to smile and return to Dean. Dean who moved within perfection, his body playing the melody of his soul. She couldn’t wait to see his children born.


	13. Chapter 13

She took Dean in her car, driving him through the portal. He was sitting in a small crate in the back of the car. He hadn’t even fought her when she told him to get in, not after Castiel had pulled him close before they left, their faces mere inches apart, frozen as if about to kiss, but avoiding that last touch. Castiel had brushed his fingers through his pet’s hair before telling him that Despoine had a surprise for him. Dean had shivered, and looked almost small. 

Castiel had given her the chalice and a name. A reward for when he was more comfortable. Despoine couldn’t stop herself from wincing when she realized that she’d have to hide the chalice from pretty much any god in the mansion. Too many of them would think that Castiel wouldn’t mind ‘too much’ if they just snuck one peak…

Despoine set the car in cruise as they drove up to Shangri La. Dean seemed to be entertaining himself by tapping a tune on the bars of his travel crate, stopping only when he noticed her looking at him. She didn’t really mind the tapping herself, but it would do him good to learn to stop without a specific order, in case his master was not as tolerant of his tics. 

She moved the car out of cruise as they entered the center of town, nymphs and satyrs looked up as they saw them, lifting their noses as if looking for new prey. Or more likely, waiting to see if there were going to be new bargains at the store. Despoine ignored them, she had to get some shopping done, before they reached the farm and most shop clerks on the mortal plane were far too curious for her taste. She drove up the main road and parked the car on the side of the road, as close to their first destination as she could find. 

Where most human stores used mannequins to show the store’s merchandise, Hera’s boutique had a range of human pets doing the same thing. Most of them were trained pets who were happy to turn around and model the clothes they were wearing when a potential customer stopped to look at them. Though she could see that the store had a new model, Despoine smiled as she noticed the necklace tastefully arranged around the girl’s neck. It wouldn’t last too long, once the girl, understood what she was there for and had the training needed for the job, they’d remove the Paidopagis, and she’d be allowed a higher degree of freedom. Despoine had to admit that she did like the contrast of the girl’s dark skin, with the yellow of the dress she was wearing.   
Hera always did have a great sense of style.

Despoine opened the back door of the station wagon, and smiled at Dean who sat up in the crate, the symbiote forming a beautiful studded black collar around his neck. She couldn’t help like the way Dean and the symbiote played with one another. She unlocked the crate and helped Dean move out of it. He stretched as he did so, shaking his legs to get the blood flowing properly, before moving to a squatted kneel as he waited for her to get her purse and lock the car.

Most of the models standing at the window were showing of clothes meant for gods and other higher beings, but there were a few males and females showing off proper pet attire as well.   
She knew she had to bring Castiel here one of these days. The leather pants that looked practically painted on one of the models would look simply magnificent on Dean. For now though, all she needed was a pair of drawstring pants. Something that would cover up the pet’s lower body, but would be easy enough to remove when needed. She might not want him to be ashamed of his nudity, but there was no need to allow the family to ogle him when his master wasn’t even there to enjoy their jealousy. 

The nymph running the store took one look at the human and started oohing and ahing about him, before ordering one of her human pets to bring up collars as well as slippers to protect his feet on the meadows. Despoine decided against buying any of either, deciding to get Dean a nice pair of sandals instead.

She left him in the pet park for a few minutes as she took a look at the new collections. Hera always managed to find the newest styles created both in the wild and by some of Apollo’s pets. When she got back to Dean, there was another pet in the park with him, a young boy who was twitching while his master, a stylish kitsune was asking about some designer suits made on order. 

Dean in comparison sat in perfect posture as he waited for her to return, almost as if he was a perfect example of how a pet in rest should be behaving. Relaxed, yet clearly showing his patience and keeping him ready to sit up the second his owner returned for him. A perfect promotion of her skills. 

Oh sure he’d been looking at the models in front of the window, but then she didn’t really expect him to pretend he was blind either, Despoine had seen enough of Dean’s interaction with his owner to know that if the new god had been around, Dean’s attention would have been on nothing but his master. 

She decided that since their drive had taken long enough, that it wouldn’t hurt to stop over for a quick reward before heading to the farm. And while she was doing so, she might as well further test Dean’s ability to walk on a leash and behave in public. It was early in the morning, so the streets weren’t too full, but they still ran into several gods with one or more pets walking in their wake. Dean hesitated once, when he saw a shtriga who had two kids walking behind him. The thing must have just come from the general store. 

“They’ll be fine, Dean.” She whispered as they waited in front of the traffic light. “He’ll want to be able to feed of them as long as possible.”

Dean glared at her for a second before wiping the improper look of his face, but she could sense his disbelief come off of him like a wave. He didn’t even need to say the words. “As if that was kinder.” She could see what he was talking about. But most civilized shtriga weren’t gluttons. They took a sip here, a sip there, while providing their meals with their every need as to make sure they lasted them as long as possible. 

They finally arrived at their destination, the coffee shop. Despoine smiled at a few friends, before sitting down, there was a pillow at the foot of the chair for pets to kneel on and she directed Dean to get down.

A young man came in to take their order and Despoine asked for a large apple pie with some coffee. Dean shivered as she allowed her fingers to move down to his nipples, gently slipping in between the nipple rings, tugging them a bit to see how much they’d take. The soft bits of flesh hardened under her touch and she twisted the left one a bit, listening to the soft sigh for air coming from Dean’s lips. 

She sipped from her coffee and noticed a wave of jealousy pushing out of Dean. Need, desire, though funnily enough, it wasn’t for her touch, but for the coffee in front of her. Humans. Give them everything they actually needed and more, and they’ll go straight for the things that’ll be bad for them. She dipped her fingers in the coffee and pushed them in front of Dean’s mouth, his tongue licked off the coffee and she could notice the hint of caffeine buzzing in on the boy’s system.

He seemed disappointed when it became clear that that was all he was getting, until their waiter brought in the pie. Despoine carefully cut up the pie, picking up pieces with a napkin, before holding them in front of his mouth, watching that tongue of his licking at the food, before pushing his lips around them. It was a joy to see him eating, paying loving attention to every crumb, preventing even a single drop of the apple to spill outside of his mouth. She smoothed his neck, sending her approval through his symbiote, making it clear how pleased she was with his behavior the entire day and keeping his attention on her, instead of on the other pets scattered around the room. Despoine cringed as she saw the whip marks on one particular pair of pets so thin they were near to starvation who seemed careful to step even an inch out of line. Instead she returned her attention to Dean who was licking his lips, patiently waiting to see if there’d be more, she complied without hesitation. 

“Hello, Darling.” She looked up fought back a scowl as she noticed Hades standing there. “Mind if I join you?” Despoine wasn’t even sure why this god above all bothered her so much. He was kind and generous to his family, had given her a chance for freedom like none before him ever had. Had taken her into his heart, into his home, taught her everything he knew and more. Hades had never been anything but kind and courteous to her. Yet lately, whenever she saw him, there was this feeling of horror that crept up on her whenever she saw him. She figured it came from the memories of the humans he’d supplied their kitchen. Part of her wondered if Hades even realized that the more he tried to please her with a new bounty, the more she pulled away from him. 

She still remembered the first time it happened, shortly after she’d found the symbiotes. She’d been testing the Bobrayala when he came in. Carrying in new prey, offering her to share dinner. The prey was a matured woman, not ugly, just homely, her mind bland and boring, Despoine hadn’t even considered her anything other than meat. Not until that first bite, that first moment of horror, feeling the pain and suffering as Hades tore the woman’s guts open and sucked on her intestines. Despoine had released the arm she’d been biting into, but that piece of flesh was still in her mouth. And gods, that rush, feeling the woman’s life, her fears for her children,’ please don’t hurt them, please let them be safe’, even as in her mind’s eye, Despoine saw the children led to the slaughterhouse by Hades. The sorrow and grief pouring out of the flesh, more vibrant than anything she’d ever before seen in her life. 

Hades had looked up at her then and Despoine tried to bite through the memories, as she swallowed the meat and took another. The woman’s marriage to the man of her dreams, her name had been Lydia, her mother hadn’t approved of her taste in men, thought her Edgar was vulgar, watching as her husband was torn limb from limb, not even able to try and run. Hades hands on the man’s head as he cracked the guy’s skull. 

Despoine pulled away, away from the women, away from the flashes of life, of comforting her children, of holding her daughter as she cried. She’d left the room, throwing up almost before she was out of the door. Hades screaming after her, leaving the dying woman behind them on the floor. 

He’d touched her then and she’d pulled away in horror, her husband, her uncle, she hadn’t even been able to look at him.

“Please Persephone” he’d called out after her, it was the last time she’d ever listened to that name. Banning it out of her mind as she did him. The symbiote had done that, it’s final revenge on her for enslaving it. It had made her an outsider in her own world, as much as it had made her the best pet whisperer amongst their own kind. A curse, and a blessing, as she could carry her pets memories with her, even as they died. 

And now Hades sat there, as her uncle, her father and mother’s brother, no longer her husband and still unable to understand what had changed. She still couldn’t tell him, still couldn’t explain how his hand on her skin sickened her now, where once it had brought pleasure. Her once rebellion, running away with him, to get away from the boredom of her mother’s house and ruling at his side for millennia on end. The hunt, and watching Tartarus break down as the soul hoarders gained claim over more and more of humanity. 

She missed him, she’d loved him, she despised him now, and he never understood why.

“I’m thinking of expanding my business.” He said, she’d missed half of what he’d said at first. “I figure if I get my humans walking in on their own, I’d spare the time of having to wait for them to drive up to Shangri La.”

“How do you plan to do that?” she forced herself to say, refusing to show her lack of interest, or more accurately, her desire to be as far away from him as she could. 

“These days, humans are so eager to have whatever jobs they can get. I open up a new slaughterhouse up in Detroit, publish a couple of wanted ads. Humans will be throwing themselves at me, letting me know everything about them, friends, family… I hand over some Paidopagis to the ones that seem interesting, and tell them they’ll hear from me again. Hire a couple of the others for appearances sake. After that, all I have to do is make one call whenever I need a new load of meat.”

“And that’ll work?”

“At least I won’t have to waste a prosperity spell on some fatcat business men that just throws me the dregs he can miss whenever his payment’s due.“ He snorted with disgust at the thought.  
“That along with the folders I’ve been spreading out at fast food places, promising a big prize in return for a call. You can’t even begin to imagine how many of them actually respond to those, all so hopeful to get a trip to Disney World, or get the latest toy for their whining pups.”

“Wouldn’t hunters start noticing that?”

“That’s the beauty of it, I change the location every few months or so, change the name on the ads and start all over again somewhere else. By the time I call in the last of the humans, I’ll be long ready for new applicants elsewhere. All I’ll have left to do is slaughter the ones I hired, hell I might even do a “get to know the family’ party, right before leaving, tell them to bring along their friends and family. Put a bit of effort into it and I could have several hundreds of humans coming in a year, without a single hunter realizing a thing.” 

Despoine let her fingers play over Dean’s back, caressing the tension out of him. The pet had even stopped chewing.

“You’d have to ask the council first. You do remember there still is a limit on the number of humans we’re allowed from the wild.”

Hades shrugged. “I’ll stick within the numbers, no worries, no need to overflow the market, it’d only decrease the prices. I’m just thinking of putting Hades meat on the market in ways that people won’t even think of Oberon anymore when they want a bit more than that bland excuse for meat that your mother supplies.“

Despoine glared, her anger resonating through her bond with her symbiote, flowing over to Dean’s, who only increased it. 

“No insult meant to the lady Demeter of course, but honestly, darling, she’s over-bred that meat of hers to such a point that it doesn’t even taste like human anymore.“

Despoine didn’t answer, asking for her bill, the human waiter coming up at them, trembling when he noticed Hades. But keeping his manners in check whilst she paid him. Letting the kid get away before he made a mistake that his owners could call him out on.

She got up, Dean following behind her without another order needed. He seemed anxious to get away from the place. She couldn’t blame him.

He climbed back into the crate without complaint, defeat and despair on his mind as they drove out of town. Two cars passed them on the way, one of them was a minibus, a little girl stared at them from the back of the bus, her hands placed on the glass. Long black curls surrounding an angelic face, the child looked gorgeous, Despoine couldn’t help but think of the price the child would make for Hades, for her uncle once they arrived at the store. Despoine hoped for the child’s sake that she’d be sold and out of the store before her family was. After one last stop at the gas station, she led the car back to the farm.


	14. Chapter 14

Dean stood startled as they arrived in the middle court. She gave him a moment to regain control, letting his eyes and feet wander around, it’s not like he was pulling his leash or trying to run, so she didn’t mind too much. His leash was still attached to the symbiote around his throat while his nipples were adjusting to the new rings. He leaned up to the fence, his hands resting on the wooden corral while he stared at the acres of land in front of him. 

The grounds of Eleysium were beautiful, graceful pastures filled with flowers and the occasional trees, fountains and little brooks for humans to sit by and watch the water flow, with gentle waterfalls trickling down on eager hands and feet. 

They passed some of her mother’s livestock sitting in the meadow, enjoying their time out in the sun, letting it fall on their naked tanned skin as they played games, sang songs and danced on the music that their nymph and satyr shepherds played for them. The youngest of the humans looked as if they were in their late teens, while the oldest were nearing full maturity. A few were coupling in the middle of the meadow, none of the others cared if they did, all that mattered to domesticated humans was their food, their pleasure and their service to their gods. 

They had the minds of children, but that was to be expected seeing as how their food, their breeding and a bit of the magic they grew up with, sped their aging to full maturity in less than five years. It’s not like cattle needed to have a full grown mind to end up on your plate. There were only a couple dozen of them in sight now, most of the herd was further up on the plain, near the fresh water lake and the food cribs.

Every month a couple of their number would be taken to the slaughterhouse and provide food for all the gods residing at the farm, while others were taken to be sold on the market. The humans had never seemed to mind what lay ahead of them, if they were even aware that that was what they were being kept for. Nobody ever lied to them, occasionally her mother would even compliment them on the weight they gained or how beautiful they’d look on her plate. These particular humans were bred for their meat and their fertility, not their high intelligence or sensitivity. A young boy stood staring at Dean, his eyes tracking Dean’s every move. Dean smiled and the animal pulled back and started running, back to the herd.

Every last one of them was part of a litter upon birth, with each female bearing up to four or even six children with each pregnancy. It’s why keeping the farms was usually kept in the hands of fertility gods like her mother, you couldn’t make a profit otherwise.

Despoine led Dean inside, through the pillars at the gates, passing the garden where a couple of the younger pets were playing games to test and increase their intelligence as they trained for their future owners. The children’s faces brightened up as they saw her, and came up to her for petting and the hope of a candy, she could rarely say no to them on either.

When she turned back to Dean, she noticed that two of the kids’ focus was hooked on the grown pet still wearing his training bells. One of them was reaching out for Dean’s arm, pulling back whenever she got close. Dean ignored them, kneeling like a proper pet, his bells remaining silent, even as the kids tried to tempt him into moving. 

Despoine petted Dean’s neck before sending approval through his symbiote. She could see his cock thicken under the thin fabric of the pants, almost wishing she could just keep the pet naked as he should be. Dean followed her further along the path, staring up and up and up, as the doors opened and he watched the halls in front of him. His bells tinkled pleasantly as he moved behind her, showing that despite his shock and awe at being here, he was still doing his best to follow her teachings.

Despoine startled up when she heard a scream ring through the halls, Dean’s bells rang for a second before he regained control of himself, freezing in place, even as his hands tightened into fists. Despoine told him to follow while she headed in the direction of the shrieking.  
She was shocked to find her mother standing over Becca who’s tunica was covered in blood. 

“Mother?” 

Demeter turned to her, smiling. “Despoine, sweetheart, I didn’t expect you until later.” The goddess was holding a whip in her hand, letting it drop by her side as she dragged the girl up by her hair. “I was just dealing with a situation. If you’ll give me a minute I’ll get right back to you and that delightful pet you brought with you.”

Despoine turned around, noticing that Dean had gone to his knees, his hands on the floor and his head bent down, a pure image of submission, it was only because she knew the man by now, that she realized this posture was nothing more than his method of hiding his rage, of keeping himself under control so he wouldn’t attack her mother and get his butt handed to him. 

She petted him for at least showing that much intelligence. Becca though… Despoine hesitated for a moment, it was a sign of ill manners to interfere in another god’s discipline of their pets. Only, Becca was hers, not her mother’s and she didn’t think that the pet would last much longer if she didn’t step in. 

“Mother… why are you disciplining one of my pets?” she asked, turning her attention back to the girl who was whimpering on the floor and still desperately trying to crawl away. Despoine wondered what had happened this time, regretting once again that she hadn’t taken Becca’s training in her own hands. Just because the girl was a servant, rather than a personal pet, didn’t mean she didn’t deserve her full attention. 

“Can you believe it, the little idiot actually tried to run away. Thought she could just slip out of your rooms and get out of the house before you returned home.” She kicked at the girl, forcing her to cringe at the touch. “She actually believed she could just walk up to the road and find some car to take her back to the wild.”

It didn’t even matter that doing so was impossible. The farm was in an offside dimension, away from the human plane and impossible to leave without a god to open the portal for you. A human out there on their own, without a god to protect him was sitting meat. Any each one of the creatures out there would love to tear them to pieces for food, to not even start on poachers, either gods, Cyclopes or titans who’d have had the girl for a snack, before she even got to the main road to town. And all that awaited her in town was a one way trip back to the farm as soon as the sheriff recognized their brand on the girl’s shoulder. It’s not like Athena was about to mess with Demeter over something as silly as a runaway pet.

If Despoine had caught the girl herself, Becca wouldn’t be walking for a week. Anything to keep her from putting herself in danger like that ever again.

“I’m sure I can handle her punishment myself now, mother. It wouldn’t do to have others discipline my pets in front of my current project, now would it?”

Demeter took a closer look of Dean who was still kneeling by her side, Despoine gently tugged on the leash, he crept closer without bothering to get up to his feet, until Demeter could reach out to him, her hand on the man’s chin as she pulled it up. “Such a gorgeous boy, I can see why you’d want his bloodline to be continued.” The words came through in her head, heard only by her and her mother as they touched one another’s faces, sharing the stories of their day, as only mother and daughter could.

Seeing her mother’s worries as she realized the girl had slipped out, the frantic searching, wondering what she’d tell Despoine and then finding her and realizing what Becca had done and why. Becca’s words, calling a god a monster, daring to speak at all, without permission, the disrespect. It was no wonder that a proud goddess like Demeter had lost control for a second. Despoine sent a comforting thought, thanking her and then told her about Dean, and her plans involving Becca. Oh there were others, and she’d allow Dean to pick any one of them, but they all had their favorites.

When they let go, Dean was still kneeling and Becca was keening softly, desperately begging for mercy, saying she was sorry and still not getting that if she was really sorry, she’d show respect through silence.

“Try and do something about that thing, my dear. “ Mother said, ”You know I’ve never been as good at this as you are.” Despoine nodded and stood still as Demeter dropped Becca so the floor. “I’ll see you after lunch, just try and actually eat something for a change.”

Despoine shivered as her mother turned and walked away, she stared down at Becca and didn’t say a word, not bothering to wait for the girl to follow as she returned her attention to Dean, who was still kneeling behind her, clearly tensed up and desperate to keep himself from getting up and attacking Mother. Despoine leaned closer to him, her hands on the pet’s shoulders, kneading them to remove the tension. “Shhh, you did fine.”

Dean looked as if he wanted to say something, but stopped himself from doing so. She couldn’t allow that, better to gently release his anger, than to have it build up and rage when she didn’t expect it.

“What ‘s wrong?”

“She’s just a kid.” Even though Despoine was intentionally ignoring Becca, it was clear that Dean wasn’t.

“I guess you could say that.” They were all children as far as she was concerned, but she didn’t think that was what he wanted to hear. “But she is still old enough to remember the rules and follow them.”

“But she…”

“Not all humans are as smart as you, Dean. A lot of them try to fight the training.” She knew that the girl could hear her as well as Dean did, but that didn’t mean she was going to acknowledge her, it would only encourage her bad behavior. “She’s been here for two years, Dean. Two years and she still thinks she can get away with behavior that would be out of order for a new pet on their first day.”

Dean’s eyes were still on Becca who was now trying to get to her feet. 

“I don’t ask much of her, Dean, she’s not a personal pet like you, so all she’s asked is to serve and to provide me with help around the house. Instead she’s disrespectful, holds no regards for her own safety and refuses to accept her place.”

“Yeah, well, maybe she just wants to go home instead.”

“She is home, Dean.” She placed her hands on his head, keeping him from looking away. “She could have been meat and instead she lives in reasonable comfort, she is fed, sheltered and all her needs are filled. What more could a human possibly want?” Dean stared at her in shock, as if he had to bite his tongue to keep from talking back at her. At least he had the intelligence to do so. “The sooner she accepts what she is, what she’s meant to do, the better.”  
Dean just looked up, at her, behind her, at the girl … Despoine wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he sat there, his entire body shivering. And all she could think was that this wasn’t what she’d planned on when she brought him here.

“That what you’re planning to do to me if I try to run?” The question startled her, it took her a moment to realize where it came from.

“Do you want to?” He shrugged, shook his head. “Dean, this plane of existence is not a safe place to be for a lone human.” Her fingers moved over his skin.”My mother was heartbroken that the girl made her do that, worried sick of what could have happened if Becca had gotten out. If that girl had gone of the farm grounds; if you left the farm grounds without a god around to keep you safe, then anything could eat you. And I’m not going to be the one to explain that one to Castiel, are you?”

“I already said I’m not leaving. I just… “ The poor pet just seemed so confused, so utterly shattered that she couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. The problem with pets who cared about others is well, that they care about others. Some pets could get used to their masters feasting on humans. Some even accepted a bite of human flesh, when prodded. But she didn’t think that Dean would ever be one of them, not unless he was so broken and torn that he wouldn’t be recognizable as Dean anymore.

“You don’t like seeing kids hurt.” She said soothingly. “Neither do I. But we all do what we have to do, Dean. And some take easier to this life than others.”

Dean snorted at that but followed her to her wing of the farm without any further grumbling. He barely even looked back to see if the girl was following, well he only did so twice, considering the situation, she felt that was quite restrained. 

Her youngest son came running towards her when their little group of three arrived, running away from his human nanny as he did so. “Momma momma, I got to help gramma with the newborns and she said I could feed one of them if I was good. Can I momma, Can I?”

She smiled, pulling her son into her arms and hugging him close. Trying desperately not to think of his father’s eyes on her. He noticed something was off and started giggling. She tickled him to get a bigger giggle out of him.

“Moooooooom.” But his lack of actual resistance clearly showed that he didn’t mean the protest. 

“You may, but you’ll do everything Grandma tells you and you’ll promise to be careful, is that understood?”

Ani was happy as always to comply, cheering before he noticed Dean who had once again decided to be on his best behavior by kneeling down as soon as they’d stopped. He really did deserve a treat, especially after Hades and his endless prattling had interrupted the pet’s last one. 

“Did you get me a pet, momma?” She was almost sad to have to disappoint Ani, in fact, if Dean wasn’t already owned by Castiel, she would have loved to give him to Ani once his training was over. Dean was loyal, brave, he’d make a good pet for her son as he grew up, and would with some encouragement give his life to protect her son if need be. A god’s childhood took far longer than that of man, and it would do Ani well for him to be able to enjoy his for a few centuries longer.

“I’m sorry Ani,” she said, letting go of her son. “But I’m sure that Dean’s master would be very sad if Dean didn’t return to him.” 

Ani pouted, the look on his face reminding her far too much of his father.  
“I’m just helping Dean, so he’ll be a better pet for his god.”  
It was hard to see the disappointed look on her son’s face and not tell him she’d been wrong. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to ban the image of Hades out of her mind, whenever she saw her son, her beloved child, who would one day be a great god, a kind god, who cared for humans as much as she did.

The little god held on to his toy car, letting it shift between the images of the cars he’d seen the gods use around the farm. Despoine patted his nose, twitching it for a moment, trying to bring back a smile.

“Now I’m sure that Dean wouldn’t mind playing with you, since he’s going to be with us for a week.” She said, sending Dean a big ‘I’m sorry’ through the symbiote as she said so.

Ani’s face cleared up of tears and he instantly jumped up to Dean, hugging him, she had to send him a quick warning, telling him not to break the human’s ribs, before it was too late. Dean cringed a bit, but didn’t even try and pull away.

“We’re gonna have so much fun,” Ani said, “and we can play with momma’s other pets and grandma says that there haven’t been so many newborns in years, and it’s almost time for grandma’s big feast, and everyone in the family will be there, even Daddy, and…”

Ani was already dragging Dean with him, further in the apartments, before Despoine could warn him not to talk about the feast, she sent him a mental message of caution, but she wasn’t sure if he managed to get it in his excitement. Dean tried to resist at first, looking at her for orders. But she quickly sent him a message through the symbiote to just play along.  
She spotted movement at the edge of her vision and turned around to see Darren leaning up against the door. “Mistress.” Darren was about to go to his knees but Despoine stopped him, at his age, it wouldn’t be good for his knees to kneel too much. She pulled the man closer, his bells ringing gently as she pulled him in for a kiss.

“That wasn’t my replacement, was it Mistress?” She could hear the unspoken worry behind the joke, as easily as she could see the beauty of his well ordered mind as she touched his skin.

“Not quite yet, Darren, I’m sure you have a few good years left before I need your help to train a replacement.” She send a series of reassurances through her favorite’s symbiote, knowing all too well how heartbroken she’d be when Darren eventually died. She’d honor him of course, prepare his meat like the feast it would be, aged to perfection as it was, and taste his soul for one last time, before she’d allow it to roam free in the ether. And then once he was reborn and old enough to be trained, she’d get him back from whomever birthed him and bring him home, where he belonged. It’s what she had done the last four times that his soul had passed on.

She led him into the kitchen where she pushed him up against the fridge, before she grabbed hold of his mouth, the taste of his lips lingering long after they finally broke free. He shivered when she touched his dick through his pants, fueling the need for her and her dominion. As he lost control his bells rang through the room and played to his desire.  
By the time they rejoined Ani and Dean in the living room, Becca sat trembling in the corner of the living room while Dean was playing cars with Ani, allowing the child to race his toys over Dean’s body, trying to tickle Dean into moving his bells. Despoine held on to the door rail as she stood there watching the both of them play. Dean was surprisingly good with children, but then, it shouldn’t be that surprising. She’d seen images of the boy, Ben, that held a part of Dean’s heart, as Dean’s mind played over and over the joy he’d had at being a father, even if only for a short while.

Becca started crying. Despoine stared at the still bleeding girl and picked her up, carrying her to the kitchen, putting a paper towel on the counter, before placing the girl on top of it. Becca sat still, even as Despoine pulled the tunica off her body, leaving her naked, her back still slightly bleeding. “Why, child, you should know better by now.”  
Becca just started sobbing and Despoine couldn’t resist the urge to brush her fingers through the pet’s hair, over her ears, gently rubbing her finger along the girl’s neck, feeling the veins underneath her skin.

When Becca finally answered it came out so quiet, that Despoine almost missed it.

”Why don’t you just kill me, please just kill me.”

Despoine startled at the sheer amount of misery coming off of the girl. She placed her hand on the girl’s chest and could feel the child’s continued grief. The trauma of her family’s deaths in a continuing loop playing through her mind. The need to get out, the terror whenever she looked at any of the gods or the other beings serving on the farm. It’s no wonder the girl couldn’t feel at home when she was this scared all the time. Despoine tried to push Becca into remembering the positive things, the bits of life worth living for. Sugary treats unavailable on earth, music written by Apollo himself, jokes between the pets… But they paled in comparison to the abyss of suffering overwhelming the child.

For a moment she considered it, to just gently break the Becca’s neck and let her mind go free. It’d almost be a kindness. The only thing that had kept the pet going as long as she had, was the hope of escape, of getting out and telling someone, anyone what had happened. Take that away…

“What about your brother.” It was the first and only thing she could think of. Becca glared at her and Despoine winced for a second, thinking about the oldest of the two brothers, the fat little boy that had been roasted in front of the pet, hours before Demeter had entered the store. “He’s a toddler now. I’m sure he’d love to meet his sister to have her tell him where he came from.”

Becca stared at her in shock, it was then that Despoine realized that her mother had never told the girl what happened to the youngest member of the family. Considering what had happened to the others, it was no wonder that Becca had thought they’d all died. 

“He’s here on the farm, in pet training. He’s doing quite well actually.” Well as well as toddlers could do anything, but she figured it’d be pointless to even hint at that. “I guess it’s easier for him, he doesn’t have a history outside, so to him, learning obedience comes natural. “ Babies were easy that way, no previous teachings to get rid of, they learned their place from the start and didn’t know anything but how to behave. The ones that didn’t… well she was happy to say that it had been ages since they’d had to send a failed pet to the kitchens.

“Aaron?”

“My mother named him Sugar, because he’s so sweet. Hardly cried from the start.” The boy hadn’t had time to start missing his mom, before one of the nursing women had taken responsibility over him.

It was as if a gentle wind pushed aside the clouds in the girl’s mind, and Despoine nearly kicked herself for neglecting the girl like this. If only she’d paid more attention, she could have helped the child months ago. 

“Can I see him, please?” 

Despoine cleaned her hands under the faucet before turning back to the pet.   
“It depends.”

Becca stared at her through tear filled eyes. Hope shining through. “We can’t risk an ill behaved pet anywhere near the younglings. It would be a bad influence. Do you think you can be a good pet, Becca?”

“I can, I swear. Please, I’ll do whatever you want, please, just let me see him.”  
Despoine let her fingers pass over the girl’s back, letting her symbiote work in on the girl’s wounds, speeding up her healing. 

“There’s something you can help me with. It’ll be a good sign that you’re heading in the right direction to being a good pet.”

“I’ll do whatever you want, please Mistress.”

Becca was staring at her with hope for the first time since she’d arrived in Elysium and Despoine kneaded her hand over the girl’s thigh, offering comfort and warmth, as she felt goosebumps forming under her fingers.

“The pet I brought with me, his name’s Dean. “

Becca seemed a bit startled, not getting the connection, but nodding regardless.

“I want you to help him, make him feel welcome. Show him the behavior of a proper pet. Introduce him to any of the other pets in the house.”

Becca kept nodding.

“Dean’s here because his owner doesn’t have any other pets for him to have sex with. And since his owner isn’t filling that need, I offered him the use of my stock instead.”

“You want me to have sex with him?” Becca stared at her in shock, a bit stunned and had finally stopped nodding.

“I would appreciate it, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. He’s only a pet, he can’t command you and he can’t make you do anything, you don’t want him to. He might not even be too eager for it, this is his first time amongst other pets since he was claimed.”  
Despoine knew she should make it clearer that she wasn’t about to force her pets to breed, but she could see the connection in Becca’s mind, being a good pet, sleeping with Dean and pleasing her mistress so she might see her brother. It was a tentative grasp to make. But somehow it helped put the girl’s mind at ease, so Despoine wasn’t about to try and explain the much more complicated reality. Humans had simple minds, and a good owner did well to keep things on a level they could actually understand.

“Regardless, Dean’s allowed to have sexual relations with any human male or female on the farm, though I’d prefer a focus on the females. Castiel agreed to let me breed Dean, and I’d hate to see that opportunity wasted.” 

Becca nodded fiercely, tears still filling her eyes, but she had a purpose now, and Despoine was happy to have given it to her, even as she cleared up the girl’s tears.

Despoine finished cleaning Becca, leaving the scars to open air so they’d heal better. “There there.” She said as she placed the girl back on the floor. Becca instantly moved to her knees, as if she was proving that she could be a good pet and Despoine rewarded her for the attempt.   
“Now go get Dean and get him something to eat. The poor boy never got to finish his pie earlier. Somehow the sight of Hades made him lose his appetite. “Becca cringed at Hades’ name, all the wild born pets did. “Just try and limit his quantities to training levels.”

“Yes Mistress.”

Becca headed straight up to the cabinets to get a spare feeder, placing it on the wall, clicking it in alongside the others and filling it with the bag of pet food. Despoine left her to it while she went to get Dean.

Dean seemed to be hesitating between her and Ani, before she made up his mind and ordered him to the kitchen. Dean flinched a bit as he did so, and Despoine reminded herself once again that she’d have to teach Ani another lesson about how frail humans tended to be.  
The teenager was filling Dean’s water bottle, blushing slightly as she looked at Dean’s still half naked body, the pants slightly pulled down by Ani’s play. Dean from his side seemed desperate not to stare at the blushing girl that looked even younger in her embarrassment, pulling up his pants as he approached the kitchen.

Dean knelt down before the feeder and started eating almost immediately, licking the feeding tube, suckling it’s mushroom head, switching between the two to get both food and liquid. Becca stood staring at him, but when he looked her way, she quickly turned to the other side instead. Despoine wondered if she should make Dean stand up so Becca could take a good look of him. It’s not like sleeping with Dean should be a hardship for anyone.

Despoine couldn’t help but being pleased by how this was working out. It was obvious that Becca was trying to think of a way to do her bidding, looking for a way to approach Dean. Dean from his side just seemed eager to finish feeding.

“Mistress asked me to … to guide you around, so you could … could meet some of the other pets.” Becca said as soon as Dean had finished and went back into his kneel. “If that’s ok.” Becca couldn’t seem to hide a blush when she stared at Dean.

Dean just smiled back at her, his dimples showing as he did so. Not quite saying anything.  
“I’m Becca.” The girl said before turning her eyes back to Despoine as if asking for permission. Despoine mentally pushed at her to continue.

“Dean.” When Dean turned his full attention on the girl, Despoine could almost feel the arousal coming off of the girl. Somehow she didn’t think Becca would hate this job as much as she’d probably thought she would. But then, Dean was an exemplary example of his species. “And I’d appreciate it. If Mistress approves of course.” He shrugged a bit. “I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to act around other pets.”

He did have a point on that, and she would have to give him a quick set of rules to make sure he didn’t ruin any goodwill that his so far good behavior had obtained from her mother.   
“I’ll help.” Becca stuttered out. “I can do this, be a good pet. I just didn’t… I should have just …”

“Hey it’s ok.” Dean got closer, touching her arm. Well there was one thing she’d have to talk to him about. “I can imagine wanting to get away. If I hadn’t given myself over to … my master, I’m sure I’d be trying to escape to.”

“Why would you do that?” Becca sounded shocked, her mind screaming her disbelief.  
Despoine hesitated a moment, wondering if she should interfere before this went too far. 

“Why would anyone want to?”

“My brother. My little brother. He was ill, his mind was all messed up. Sam, he just… he was lying there, suffering, his mind shorting out on him. I took him to the hospital but there was nothing they could do for him. Not with his seizures getting worse and worse. He couldn’t sleep, but he was too exhausted to even eat. So I prayed to Cas, my master. I prayed to him for three days, telling him I’d do anything he wanted me to, if only he’d help my brother. I guess at first I was too disrespectful, too demanding, but in the end, I just fell to my knees and I just offered myself up to him, told him I’d try to be better, try to be what he wanted me to be, if only he gave me a chance. And then he was there, and he asked if I meant it.”

“Did you?”

“By that point, I would have gone back to hell, if it meant getting Sam the help he needed.”  
“I didn’t agree to anything. I never asked for any of this.” Becca whispered. “My dad got a new job, we were supposed to drive there. Daddy took us to Disneyworld. And I was such a jerk about it. I thought I was too big, I told my dad I hated him for putting us through this. And then… something happened to him, it was like, like when they drew those symbols on us, they must have gotten to him at the park, I don’t know.” She started crying again, and Dean pulled her close, no longer caring that neither of them was fully dressed. “He drove us here, mom kept asking him to stop, but he wouldn’t, just kept on driving until we were in the middle of town.” The girl started sobbing, grieving truly and openly for the first time that Despoine could see. She wiped off her tears before continuing “They sold us in a store, it looked like a grocery store at first. Shelves with products and sales, and a butcher shop at the back. I just sat there and watched them kill my parents, my brother, they treated them as if they were nothing, just animals for the slaughter and there was nothing I could do. No way I could save them. I kept waiting for them to kill me as well. But they didn’t. Mistress Demeter brought me here instead and they just expect us to be happy, to be grateful to be allowed to serve. And I just couldn’t… “

Dean didn’t say a word, just looked through the open door, at her. Despoine simply finished cutting her meat and listened to her son’s happy jabbering on about his day. She could feel Dean’s disgust raging through the symbiote, yet somehow it wasn’t aimed at her. She was glad, even if she didn’t understand why. 

“I’m sure it’ll get better.” Dean finally said, digging inside himself for anything to comfort the girl.. “Hell, at least you’re allowed to wear clothes. Mistress only gave me these pants because we were coming here. Going around in the nude gets pretty damn freezing after a while, especially when she takes me out for walkies….”

Becca couldn’t hide a laugh after that. 

“Oh right, just laugh at the lapdog. Believe me, when I offered myself up to Cas, I did not expect it to involve running around naked all the time.”

“Your master, “ Becca seemed to grow more and more hesitant as she continued, “did he keep his word?”

“About what?” 

“About your brother.”

Despoine was starting to understand where the girl was getting at, after all, when it all came down to it, it was all about trust, who had earned it, who hadn’t and who to give it to or not.

“He did. He did more than that; he changed Sam’s memories, he changed his life. As far as Sam remembers, he’s finished college, he’s getting married, or he probably already got married, it’s confusing sometimes. Nobody even remembers the past, or even me. They don’t remember his criminal record, hunters no longer know anything about him. He gets to be normal, be safe, live his life. It’s more than I could have ever dreamed of.” Dean shivered and this time it was Becca who took his hand to comfort him.

“And then, he, Castiel, he did even more. My brother’s girlfriend died when Sam was in college. Castiel brought her back to life. Neither of them has a hint that she didn’t live through those years. He’s happy, they’re happy and he’s going to remain happy and safe for as long as I’m the best pet I can possibly be for my master. He even got Mistress to help train me, so I can actually succeed, which is amazing.“

The relief on Becca’s face was almost tangible and Despoine wanted to pet them both for getting it.


	15. Chapter 15

Despoine looked up from her needlework, when she saw Dean and Becca entering the room. 

“It’s like bowling balls,” Dean was saying. “Or really big melons. If I didn’t already know we weren’t on earth, those things would be the proof of it.” Dean was talking about Rosamerta, one of her brother Areion’s pets, and the size of her boobs. Becca broke out laughing, and Despoine thought it was a good look on the girl, she should do it more often. “She’s gotta have a symbiote, how else is anyone supposed to walk with those things?”

Despoine couldn’t help a smirk, thinking of all the work that Areion had gone through as Rosa was growing to increase the size of those things. She herself didn’t see the point of it, it’s not like the woman was meat waiting to be harvested. She preferred her pets to look natural. And even if she had wanted her pets to look unnatural, a females breasts would be the last thing she’d want to mess with.

Becca leaned up to Dean who had a typical ‘just got laid’ look on his face. Despoine was just glad that her plan seemed to be working. To her surprise, Dean had even offered to sleep with Darren. The younger pet had been so shy about it, dancing around the question for hours, almost scared to even speak about what he wanted to do, before he asked the older pet for help in learning how to please his master. 

Darren had agreed of course, she remembered how this incarnation of Darren had been insisting he was only interested in men when she first got him. Even now he seemed more interested in male bodies than he was in those of females. And she wasn’t a cruel enough mistress to deny him if she could help it. It wasn’t like she didn’t get her own benefits out of it. Like now with Dean as she had gotten to watch the two of them, seeing Dean crouching over Darren, Darren’s cock in his mouth, listening to Darren as he told Dean step by step what he wanted him to do. Seeing the look on Darren’s face as Dean swallowed him whole, as that tongue curled around Darren’s cock, as Darren slipped in and out. To see those eyes lose themselves when Darren came and Dean fought back the urge to spit, as soon as his conscious mind remembered that he wasn’t supposed to like the taste of Darren’s come. It was so silly, Dean could be enjoying himself so much more if he just let go of his human hang ups.

And then Darren made Dean ride his dick, wearing a cock ring so he wouldn’t come to quickly, teaching him both positions. That sometimes getting fucked wasn’t just about lying there and letting your master have his way, that it could be far better when the pet put in the effort and just ensured that his or her master enjoyed themselves while the pet did all the work. Twisting himself around Darren’s cock, while Darren made him comfortable with kisses along his spine. And then again, with Dean desperate to come and willing to do anything to be allowed to do so, as he sat on Darren’s dick, face to face, while Darren fucked the new pet’s mouth with his tongue. 

By the time Dean got fucked against the wall, the pet was exhausted, falling in Darren’s hold as Darren finally released the ring on her command and allowed Dean to come for the first time all day. Dean had whispered Castiel’s name as he did so, as if reminding himself whom he was doing this for.

Darren had held on to Dean in the bath tub afterwards and though Dean had blushed, barely able to look Darren in the eyes, he’d still shown his good manners by at least thanking Darren for his aid before he fell asleep.

Despoine had pulled Darren in for a kiss and sent him to bed while she carried Dean back to his crate. Petting him as she whispered her approval in his ears.

So far, two of the women Dean had slept with, had taken with child. It helped of course that she’d put fertility spells on all of them , but as far as she could see, everything was going right and Dean’s seed seemed as fertile as that of any of the best studs of the herd.

Mother had actually been surprised when she saw how well behaved Becca was being, as the girl helped guide Dean around, Mother had actually gone as far as asking what Despoine had done to improve the girl’s disposition, after all the months of her own fruitless attempts at doing the same. 

Demeter had been shocked when Despoine told her. Mother looked at her and admitted she hadn’t even thought about using the boy. The idea of humans retaining bonds like that had never even entered her mind. Mother had actually felt sorry for the girl when Despoine had explained things. Giving her a second chance to make a new first impression, a rare thing from a goddess as proud as Demeter. Unfortunately it also lessened her opinion of Hades which was low enough as it were. 

Despoine wished she could be more disappointed by that, instead she was glad, happy to know that her mother at least wouldn’t be trying to push her back at Hades, no matter how much easier it’d make things for all of them.

It also caused a change in the kitchens where now the cook was told to kill all humans as quickly as possible, The small loss in a few minutes of freshness wasn’t worth the misery caused by making them watch as their companions were slaughtered and prepared in front of them. The cook had suggested blindfolds and earplugs instead, but Despoine had enough experience with humans to know that human imagination had a tendency to increase anxiety rather than lessen it. Mother had actually listened to Despoine’s experience on the matter and had insisted.

Despoine had kissed her mother’s forehead in gratitude, wishing that all gods would start gaining some respect for the emotions of the animals sacrificed on their behalf. 

She knew that most of the other gods didn’t gain as full a perspective on humans as she did, a gods abilities depended on their purpose and lineage. She’d always been sensitive, but since the symbiote that sensitivity had increased a thousand fold. For the first time she managed to explain to her mother what it did to her to eat a human and the full impact of what she gained from them. Her mother had pulled her close after that and had apologized for her attempts to diversify Despoine’s diet. She’d only tried to spice up the meat, giving her something with more emotional depth to it, but finding out the full extent of what Despoine got from human flesh, she promised she wouldn’t ever again force her to eat any meat that was too much for her to handle.

Once forgiven, Demeter quickly moved on to the oncoming festivities, losing herself in the preparations of the week long feast. Fattening up the sacrifices, making sure they had all the supplies they needed, and preparing whatever could be done so in advance. It was days before the feast and Despoine knew just how important it was to her mother to show she was still on top of things. Especially with Hades insinuations against her product.

The fact that Demeter had had no choice but to invite her brothers as part of the feast ensured that nothing could happen to mess this up. Infant flesh was a rare treat, suffused with innocence and trust, that older humans could never seem to retain. Despoine planned to make sure that Dean was kept busy with Becca while the meals were being prepared. No reason to give him any undue stress, even if he’d be happy to know that his master was invited to the feast as well. The night before the feast truly began, she made sure to add a lust potion to his feed, telling him that she’d be busy most of the following day. 

He seemed a bit sad, Ani had taken him to the stalls earlier, dragging him to see the newborns and their mothers, The ones chosen for the feast were already taken and brought to the kitchen, so the mothers were currently nursing their remaining young, leaving them somewhat sad and subdued, knowing they’d lost something, but not sure what and hanging on to what they had left. They’d forget, they always did.. Their remaining children would be taken from them in two weeks, when they were old enough to survive without nursing, many of them would be old enough to sit up by then, old enough to go to the crib for food rather than to their mother’s breasts. 

The farm was doing well, with over two hundred newborns this season alone, only fifty of them had been taken for the feast, supplying enough meat for all the invited guests and even for those who’d show up, whether they were invited or not. 

Dean had stared in shock at the number of humans, especially when Ani started telling about how some of the nursing humans were milked as soon as their young were old enough to go without. The sea of bodies in front of him seemed to make him realize something that Despoine had wanted to spare him from. 

She tried to explain it to him, that they were almost mindless, that these weren’t free humans, not like Becca, that they were bred for this. It only seemed to make it worse. He never got disrespectful, just asked if he could go to his crate to sleep. She agreed, as long as he ate first. She watched as he did, feeling his growing arousal through the symbiote as the night moved on.

“It’s time Becca.” She told the girl. “If you still want to of course.” The girl drank from the bottle that Despoine held in her hands. “Just keep his mind off things, tonight, and I’ll see to it that you get to meet your brother tomorrow.” Dean wasn’t the only one who could use a good distraction in regards to the feast. And it would do Becca good to know that her brother would be safely sleeping on his pillow, even as she and the others brought in the food.  
Dean woke up when Becca entered the room, his dick was hard as he stared up at the girl. She whipped her hair over her back and came closer.

“Becca, I don’t…”

“Mistress said I could. Don’t you want me?”

“Oh God. Becca. You’re so young”

“I’m not a child.” 

He still seemed to hesitate, his control admirable, considering the amount of lust potion she’d put in his food. 

“Please, Dean. Please, I want my first time to be with someone who’d care.”

There had to be something in her eyes, if the desperation in her voice wasn’t enough. Watching Dean and her together was almost beautiful, Dean took care of her, making sure she’d enjoy every second. Becca on the other hand was inexperienced, but allowing herself to be led. Their coupling lasted for hours, by the time it was finished, Becca lay in Dean’s arms, he curled up around her, as if to protect her from the world. 

Despoine finished with the last of the infants that would be prepared in advance, watching as the cook carved the meat of their fragile bones, gently removing intestines and brains while separating the flesh, turning both into a whole series of delicacies, from pâté to hams. She’d taste tested enough of them to know that they’d barely felt any pain, just a quick merciful fading into the black as their souls spread back into the ether. Fifteen of them were left, sleeping away their last night, she moved her hand over their brows, granting them dreams of love and rainbows, wishing their souls well for their next lives.

The halls were quiet, more so than usual, as most of the pets lingered in their rooms, either staying out of the gods way or doing their jobs and preparing the farm for visitors, setting up rooms and sleeping in advance for when not if, some of their guests would request companionship the next day.

Despoine took one last look at the two pets, feeling the first spark of new life in the girl’s womb. 

She wondered if Castiel would end up wanting any of the resulting children for himself, even as early as this she knew there’d be seven of them spread amongst the three women. She wasn’t quite sure on genders yet, it was too early to tell. Maybe she should let Dean pick which of them he wanted to keep, she already knew several buyers that would pay tremendous amounts for any of them. 

She weaved a sleeping spell around the crate, leaving the two pets to sleep off their sex induced haze. By the time the guests started arriving, Dean and Becca were sitting in the living room, playing a game of tic tac toe with Ani. The boy was happy with the attention, happy to have his mother with him for the entire week. 

She felt guilty at times, for leaving him alone that much, but there was no way she was going to let him spend time with his father. Ani was vulnerable, in need of someone to guide him to the god he was going to be, and there was no way that she’d let Hades have any hand in shaping said god. No matter how much that Ani adored him or how much she herself had loved him once upon a time. 

“Castiel will be here tonight.” She said as matter of fact as she could manage, holding back to see how he’d respond. 

Dean looked up, startled. “Am I going home.” There was something almost hopeful in his tone.  
Despoine couldn’t help but notice the slightly disappointed look on Becca’s face, even hidden as quickly as it were.

“That will depend on Castiel.”After all, she was supposed to have another two days. And she was convinced that the boy could impregnate at least three or four more women before he left, if she let him. Areion had even been asking to let Dean have some more time with his Rosa, said he wanted another child of hers, and Rosa had actually liked Dean, something that hadn’t been the case with the last two males Areion had bred her with. 

Dean nodded and returned his attention to Ani, having learned by now that there was no need whatsoever to let the boy win, in fact Ani could win just as easily without the help, especially when Dean wasn’t paying attention. Like now. It was kind of sweet, seeing the human longing for his master to come and pick him up already. It’s not that Dean couldn’t enjoy himself without Castiel, but like any good pet, the bond with his owner was more important than that which he had with other gods. 

Dean was homesick and worse so, because he wasn’t admitting to it. It made her grab him in a hug and tickle, Dean fought her touch, but only in so far that he tried to avoid her ticklish fingers.

It was almost anticlimactic when Castiel did arrive and Dean just sat there on his knees, looking at the floor as he watched his master approach. Castiel messed up Dean’s hair, petting him, before turning his attention on Despoine.

“Was the breeding successful?” was the first thing he asked, Dean shook up, his head staring between Despoine and Castiel. 

“It has been so far, my Lord.” She said, smiling at Castiel. Then she pointed at Becca, “My pet Rebecca here is carrying two of them inside of her now. The god turned his attention to the girl, who seemed desperate to crawl her way into the ground, but stayed in place regardless of what she herself might want otherwise. Becca stood still, even as Castiel touched her belly, looking pleased as he did so. “They will be beautiful.” He said, as if looking not just inside of her, but into the future as well, he probably was.

“Cas… Master.. what’s going on?” Dean stared, horrified as he seemed to realize what was going on. “No, no you can’t do that. I gave myself, Cas. Myself, not my children, not… You can’t.”  
He froze as Castiel returned his attention to him. “Why not? Had I commanded you, would you have refused me?” The threat breathing under his words was almost touchable.

Dean stared at him in shock, shivering, his mind so clearly torn between his brother and the children.

“No.” he finally whispered. “I’m just begging you, Cas, please don’t , I can handle serving you, I owe you that, but those children, they shouldn’t… they should be born free, not as potential meat in case one of the other gods gets the munchies. “

Despoine was about to correct him, his children would never end up as food, they were meant to be pets, and valuable ones at that, but she didn’t think that was what Dean needed to hear right now.

Castiel’s hand fisted, and for a moment she felt it pass through the house, five barely forming souls leaving the world, before they were even created. Leaving only two, the ones in Becca.   
“The girl will come with us when we leave. I will pay you for her.” The god said, almost as an afterthought. Becca stood up, shaken, uttering a brief ‘no’ before she silenced herself. Dean just seemed struck.

Despoine was about to protest, wanting to say no, she couldn’t just hand over one of her pets, what kind of owner would she be if she did. But then she realized that Castiel would destroy the last two surviving offspring as well if she did.

“Yes, my lord.“

Dean’s heart was beating in his chest, his breathing harsh as he stared up at Castiel.   
“Only these two remain.” It was a proclamation of intent, and Dean clearly understood it as such. ‘They will be raised as my followers and build my new church amongst humanity. Their mother will raise them to be free.” The look on Dean’s face turned to awe and the pet reached for his master, grabbing his owner’s legs in thanks, Castiel just pulled Dean up and hugged him closer. 

Becca who had been ready to run mere seconds before just seemed to touch her hands to her belly as if she couldn’t quite believe there were new lives growing inside of her. Despoine could only hope that Castiel would treat her kindly. She stayed silent about that as well.”Aaron.” Becca whispered. Despoine could see her pulled between the two, the possibility of her children going free, and knowing she’d be abandoning her one remaining family member. But it’s not like she had any choice about the matter in the first place.

Despoine didn’t linger on the matter, Instead she showed Castiel around, giving him a tour of the farm, keeping him busy until the feast and hoping he’d let Dean return some time soon. It was when Castiel saw Darren that his eyes seemed to grow stronger in focus. Despoine barely got there in time when Castiel grabbed her pet’s arm, turning to her. “He’s one of the ones that touched Dean.”

“Yes.”

“Why? He cannot bear children”

“Dean asked him to.” She mentally pleaded at Castiel, practically begging him to let Darren go, the human was frail enough as it were.

“I just thought he might teach me some tricks.” Dean said, standing up and moving to his master, taking the risk to reach out to him. “Despoine said… that you might change your mind some day, that you might want to … use me. I just thought if I knew what to do, I could make it better.”

Castiel turned to his own pet, letting go of Darren. Dean leaned up to his owner, his bells ringing quietly. Castiel’s hand moved along Dean’s neck, his lips meeting Dean’s, as if experimenting. Dean returned the kiss.

“You will show me those teachings.” 

Dean quickly nodded. “Yes, Master.”

Despoine was about the offer a room when Castiel used the power of his mind to pull down on Dean's nipple piercings forcing him to his knees in front of him. Dean nuzzled and mouthed the burgeoning bulge in his master's pants, his hands smoothing up and down Castiel's thighs. He caressed up and around Castiel's buttocks slowing working his fingers around to the front to unzip his owner’s pants. Dean eased both underwear and pants down over Castiel's hips to reveal his hardening cock. Reverently Dean kissed the tip before licking his way down its length around the balls and back up before taking the head between his lips. He swirled his tongue around the rounded head and through the slit before sucking another inch into his mouth and repeating the process. 

Despoine with Darren kneeling at her feet watched as Castiel's breathing sped up, his hand gently resting on the back of Dean's head. She watched as Dean brought one hand up to fondle Castiel's balls as he continued to slowly suck more and more of the God' s length into his mouth. She was proud of Dean's ability to keep his eyes turned up to his master's face while he worked his master's cock like a fully trained pet. It wasn't long before she saw Castiel's hips begin to twitch and his hand tightened in Dean's hair unconsciously pulling him closer. She sensed more than saw the moment Dean started to alternate swallowing and humming around the length in his mouth by the increasing sense of euphoria radiating out from the God. The world seemed to freeze in anticipation just before Castiel suddenly tensed, groaned then reached for the wall to lean against and Dean let the now soft length of Castiel's cock slip from his mouth. 

“I see,” the former angel said. “That would be an acceptable way of providing pleasure.”

Dean grinned up at him, for all the world looking like a Cheshire cat that had got the cream.


	16. Chapter 16

Dean took place next to his owner as Castiel sat down for the feast. The other gods were a lot happier at greeting the new god now, than they’d been at their first meeting with him, welcoming him with kisses and presents, showing their gratitude at his benevolence towards them.

It wasn’t just the family that had shown up, several of the surviving gods of the northern pantheon were there as well, trying to get their way back in Castiel’s good books. Even Thor had showed up, and he rarely did these days, said he somehow didn’t like the idea of eating animals that could talk back to him. It was odd really, Thor had been growing stronger the past fifty years, but ever since that movie about him came out, his powers had increased exponentially, almost back to the levels he’d had at the height of his pantheon’s reign. 

As if the very notion of millions of people believing in him somehow took away his need of human flesh to keep his strength. Despoine couldn’t help but remember how her father had felt when that Hercules series had aired a few years ago. Even she had felt some effects of that and her name wasn’t even all that well known.

The feast actually started out surprisingly well, cocktails glasses filled with pâté and cherry tomatoes, soup with meat bouillon, Castiel was talking pleasantly with the gods surrounding him and Dean sat quietly at his master’s side, leaning up against Castiel’s leg, even as his eyes occasionally wandered over to Becca who was serving along with the rest of the staff. 

She could see him cringe as the gods started discussing the sweetness of the meat, making it quite clear what they’d been eating. And still he somehow managed to sit still, occasionally accepting his master’s touch. The only time he resisted was when Castiel tried to feed him, it was just some tomatoes, but Dean turned away from the bite, even as he kept his eyes turned on the floor. Castiel had shrugged it off and no one said a word about it. Not until the main course entered the room.

Her eyes had been on Castiel at first. The new god had barely touched his food so far, eating was as strange to the new god, as the idea of fucking his pet. Mother had told him to try the pâté and he had, complimenting her, her cook, while patting his pet on the head and asking his human pet what else Darren had taught him while he was at the farm. Dean had blushed, momentarily distracted.

They all looked up as the sound of a crying baby entered the room, all eyes turned to the carts bringing in desert. Hestia was tickling the source of the noise, making the boy stop crying.

Most of the children were awake by now, lying naked on plates surrounded by fruits, sugary treats and baked goods while covered in a variety of cold or half warm sweet sauces. One little girl was smiling as if she liked the feeling of the berry sauce covering her fingers, bringing them to her lips, sucking on them. Another boy was crying softly, uncomfortable as his skin had to be itching from the caramel covering his back. The gods collectively licked their lips at the sight, the smell coming off the children was breathtakingly delicious. The cook had exceeded anyone’s expectations once again

Dean froze, shuddering in place. Despoine sat close by, enough so to realize that the pet wasn’t taking the sight well. For one bright moment, nothing happened as everyone eyed the treat in front of them. Most of them were waiting to see how the babies were going to be shared amongst them.

Then the cook brought the first of the children to the guest of honor, Castiel. Dean didn’t move, he had clearly learned his lesson about embarrassing his owner in public, but it was obvious it was hard on him to ignore what was happening in front of him. But somehow he seemed to expect something, staring up at Castiel as if wondering what the god was about to do, as the infant in front of him hiccuped before Castiel laid a first finger on the little boy.  
The gods finger moved over the pink glaze shaped in the form of a flower on one of the boy’s buttocks, something rumbled underneath the gods shirt and Despoine could see Dean flinch as Castiel lifted the baby from its platter.

There was still hope in Dean’s eyes, hope of something, hope so bright, that Despoine could literally feel the moment when that hope was squashed, as Castiel’s face transfigured into a big mouth full of fangs, not human, not angelic, something evil, a feeling so malevolent that it made her pull back in her chair and want to hide, came over the new god as that mouth spread itself around the baby and tore into it.

The head waiters took that as their cue, ordering the humans on staff to place the babies on their designated spots on the tables. The staff took a step back as soon as the babies were on the table and the gods tore into the squirming bodies in front of them. Pulling at limbs, heads, guts. Blood spread around as the gods gave in to their most base nature. There was no time for any of the children to even scream.

Despoine restrained herself, not seeing the need to make these newborn suffer so much, even if she knew they’d all been sedated before they’d been brought in. When she looked up, she noticed that Dean was gone, the place next to Castiel empty and the god’s face still covered in blood and gore.

She jumped up and moved after the pet, finding him through the smell of vomit, he hadn’t even gotten much beyond the great doors before losing whatever had been in his stomach. He was shivering, tears struck down his face.

When he saw her, he almost instinctively corrected his posture, going to full kneel.

“I’m sorry for my bad behavior, Mistress.” He whispered.

Despoine didn’t care, she just didn’t want the poor man to keep on hurting. So she pulled him into a hug, not caring about the clatter of his bells or the filth of the vomit on his pants. 

“I just thought… I thought he cared, about people, but those babies, they didn’t deserve…”  
Despoine wasn’t about to tell him that she’d eaten of the meat as well, nor would she try to lie to him and claim that the children hadn’t suffered. She knew him well enough to know that none of that would matter. All Dean cared about was that innocents had died, while he’d done nothing to stop it. And there was nothing she could do to make him feel better about that. Dean froze, staring up at something behind her. She didn’t even need to turn to know whom it was.

“We needs the gods, Dean.” 

Despoine looked up at Castiel who stood behind them, surprising them both with his sudden appearance. 

“Insulting them at this point would be ill advised.”

Dean looked away, Despoine pulled him towards her, caressing his back. 

“Those were children.”

“Those beings were hardly humans, Dean, not anymore.”

Her touch against Dean’s skin told a story of revulsion, of betrayal that made her pull back, unable to hold on any longer. Worse so, because his revulsion wasn’t aimed at her, or Castiel.

“Those things have been bred for so long that they were closer to animals than they were to humans.”

It was aimed against Dean himself. 

“They…” Dean gagged on the words, and Castiel wouldn’t even let him have his peace on that.

“Trust me, Dean. I only want what is best for you, what’s best for humanity. Allowing the gods what they need is part of that.” Castiel seemed calm, so utterly completely calm, as if he was explaining why Dean couldn’t stay up for one hour longer. As if his ever present trenchcoat wasn’t covered in the blood of his pets kind. And then there was that other … that feeling, in the back of her neck that told her to be scared, that there was something in the room that was a far worse predator than any of the other gods at the farm could ever be. 

Dean pulled himself up to his feet, standing up to the god, she wondered if he could feel the difference, if he did, he didn’t show it, and she tried, god, did she try to warn him through the symbiote, but none of it seemed to reach him. 

“So what?”The human pulled himself up, she realized it was the hunter inside of the pet that she was seeing now, the Hunter that had killed gods, had stood up against Lucifer, a fallen angel, more powerful even than the gods, he was magnificent. “I should just close my eyes when innocent children are being slaughtered like that, because ‘they’re no longer human’. What matters as human, Cas? What, a kid with a mental disability is no longer human? A kid that can’t walk? A kid that ages too fast? What makes one human? Those children still had souls, they had lives ahead of them, until they were slaughtered.”

“Silent!”

“Why? So you can fit in, with a bunch of monsters that takes To serve man a bit too literal? So I can shut up when you have vampires over in the garden, or tell ghouls it’s ok to eat corpses long as they clean up after themselves? Is that all we are to you, Cas? Your own private herd. To be protected, until one day, you need to serve the fatted calf up to whomever pleases you most?”

Castiel slammed Dean against the wall. “I said silence.”

“What will you do if I don’t? Threaten Sam, or Jessica? Kick me out for being a bad pet? I’m sorry, Cas, I’m trying, I’m trying so fucking hard to close my eyes and ears and pretend I don’t notice anything, but I just can’t, I can’t keep doing that.”

Castiel stood still, his rage now visible, almost raging under his skin, Dean noticed it as well, but instead of turning his eyes down, he just kept glaring at his master. Castiel lost control, throwing the man to the floor, lashing out at him. Despoine tried to stop the carnage, she was thrown out of the room for her efforts. By the time she managed to return, Dean was a bleeding mess on the floor and Castiel stood over him, panting for air, forcing the human up to the wall. Despoine could hears ribs cracking,, his collar bones breaking and twisting. Dean spat blood and stared at his owner, still trying to talk. Castiel twisted his hand and Dean went flying through the air, hitting the wall on the other side, his face flattened against the wall, breaking the human’s nose. His mind fogging, clear signs of a concussion.

Dean’s whole body shuddered in pain, yet unable to fall down. Castiel tore off his pet’s pants, staring at the plug filling Dean’s ass, pulling it out before Despoine could even undo the spell that kept it inside. The pain transmitted through the symbiote ripped through her soul, but when she tried to get closer an invisible wall stopped her in her tracks, keeping her from interfering.

Blood trickled down between Dean’s legs, but Castiel didn’t seem to care, forcing his pets legs open, without even giving him a chance to obey.

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Dean. To serve me.” Each word was punctuated with Castiel’s dick forcing its way in Dean’s ass. The human was far beyond screaming, Despoine could see the flame inside of him slowly fading, but that still wasn’t enough for the god who pushed Dean back up against the wall, crushing what was left of the man’s ribs before finally, finally allowing Dean to crumble to the floor. “Well is it?”

Castiel just stood there, his pants open, sagged around his knees as he stared down at Dean who was making one last attempt to crawl up in a puddle of his own blood.

Dean lifted his face, spitting out a clod of blood, before speaking through broken teeth. “Tell me, Cas, that you aren’t a monster?” His every word a struggle, almost impossible to understand, except for those who could read him better than himself, his mind shouting the words, far more clearly than his lips did.

Castiel took a step back, freezing. Then he disappeared, leaving Dean behind as a bleeding mess. Despoine rushed to the human’s side as he fell over, his last rush of strength leaving him. She picked him up without an effort. Getting him to her rooms with ease. Becca, Darla and Darren came at her right away. Helping her by bringing water and bandages. Dean was shaking on the couch and Despoine had to hold him still as she tried to find any part of the human that wasn’t bruised, battered and or broken.

Despoine almost cried for him, for both of them and for not being able to prevent this. She should have talked to Castiel, done something to make him realize that he was pushing his pet too far, but she’d been too late to do so.

Dean was long since sleeping in his crate by the time that Castiel returned. Despoine knew she was playing with her life, but she stepped in the way when he appeared in the room, refusing to let him near the pet another time. She was shaking, more terrified than she’d ever before been in her life. But there was no way she was going to let that… god anywhere near that boy. She didn’t care who’s property Dean was. If there were any laws about the proper treatment of pets, Castiel had crossed all of them. 

When he lifted his hand, she expected him to kill her, her, maybe everyone else at the farm, yet she still stood firm. Refusing to allow something so evil to touch a pet under her protection. 

He dropped his hand, looking almost shy as he turned to her. Almost as If something was missing, for a moment his eyes looked clearer than they’d been since she’d first met him. And then they fogged over again and she shivered, desperate to stay firm in her conviction.

“Why?” he finally asked.

“Why what?”She was hoping to delay things, for him to just lose interest and leave, even knowing how pointless that hope would be.

“Why does he make me care so much?” Castiel asked, looking at the pet in front of them. “He’s aggravating, he judges everything I do, talks back no matter how often I tell him otherwise and thinks he knows better what’s right or wrong than anyone else in the world.”

She couldn’t help but think that with Castiel’s behavior, judging him was not just brave, but more than that, it was the right thing to do. It was weird, Dean was only human. Human’s understanding of right and wrong was inherently flawed. They saw everything from their own point of view that put them at the center of the universe, yet sometimes, very sometimes, they just happened to be right as well.

“Because his flaws make him who he is, Castiel. Humans were created in a god’s image, that makes their flaws divine as well.”

He shivered. “When Dean wakes up, let him use the chalice. Show him the ones who live because of him. Because he made me care.”

When, or if Dean woke up, she trembled at the thought, fully aware that the only reason that Dean was still alive was the symbiote and its influence on Dean’s body. But she didn’t think that even now, that was what Castiel wanted to hear.

"The ones you made the bargain for?" Despoine tried to remember the names.

“John and Mary Winchester and John’s son Adam. Ellen and Jo Harvelle. Rufus Turner, Jessica Moore. Dean’s parents, his half brother, hunters he saw as family or friends and his brother’s fiancée, the people’s whose continued existence would bring him the most joy.”

“He doesn’t know the price?”

“He can never find out, he’d never forgive himself if he did.”  
Despoine stared at Dean, sleeping in his crate. Thinking about the cost, about little Becca sleeping on her pallet, still mourning her family. About the minivan heading to town and all the hundreds of other humans who’d driven straight to the slaughterhouse, handed over to them through the bargain. 

Sometimes, the worst things a god did, were the very things he did to gain a human’s favor. She pretended to zip her lips in front of him, standing next to the god, staring at the sleeping pet, and praying to whatever stood above even them, that he’d never have to find out the truth and thinking that maybe, just maybe, the best thing that could ever happen to him, was the day Castiel allowed him to die.


	17. Chapter 17

For a few days it was touch and go. If it weren’t for the symbiote, Dean would have died from what his master did to him. When she confronted the god with this fact, he just looked at her and shrugged. “I’d just bring him back.” As if it were as simple as that, but it was as if Castiel didn’t even seem to care about the consequences of his own actions anymore. Not where Dean was involved.

All around her, preparations for the next feast were ongoing—one feast every two days for the next two weeks. Each day, another age group was sacrificed. Infants on the first day, children on the second, juveniles on the third, tonight it was humans in their prime. Despoine was just happy that at least Dean had slept through the first three days of sacrifice. He wouldn’t understand that these sacrifices were done to honor humanity and their entire lifespan, to walk with them through life until the final day when the elderly were brought in. By tradition, and necessity, most of those sacrificed on the final day came from the wild, though generally there were a few pets as well, those too old to serve, who gave their flesh willingly in one last sign of their surrender to their gods. 

Despoine had long since declined to offer any of her own pets for that specific honor. Not since the twelfth century, when her pet Amelia had gotten sick and addled, losing most of her mind and Despoine had thought she’d be doing the woman a favor. Only after her other two pets were told to guide Amelia to the kitchens, and prepare her for the gods, the two of them, both of whom had been Amelia’s grandchildren, had never fully trusted their master again. They’d obeyed her, respected her, but whenever they looked at her, there was a hint of fear in their eyes, that they’d be next. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to do so again. Preferring to taste her pets’ meat after they died of natural causes, rather than to take away a single day of their short mortal lives.

When Demeter asked for her help, Despoine just sent her an image of Dean, letting her feel the pain the pet was in. Mother shrugged, asked her if the other pets couldn’t care for him for a day. Despoine didn’t even dignify that with a response, so mother hired Apollo for his help instead. The god of healing and poetry spent two hours with the pet. Afterwards, Dean’s breathing was finally smoothing out, but his bones would take longer to mend. When she went to pay the god of healing for his services, Apollo simply declined, saying she could see it as an advance for training his next pet. He already had a young boy in mind, a newborn infant who was already attracting the muses’ attention around his crib, suggesting he’d be intensely talented when he matured. 

Despoine gave Dean a blanket and some pillows to soften his stay in the crate and washed his injuries, allowing him freedom of plugs and bells for the first time in months. The only decorations left on his body were the platinum rings in his nipples. Dean barely even seemed to notice, lost in his own mind as he was. Even the few times he’d woken up, he’d barely even been aware enough to realize where he was, either begging for Sam to help him or worse, begging his brother for forgiveness. 

It was a good thing that she had Becca and Darla to help her feed and care for the injured pet. Becca especially had jumped at the chance to be of use, spending all her time in the apartment either cleaning the place or caring for Dean. With her stubbornness gone, Becca was actually turning out to be a pretty decent pet. Despoine wasn’t looking forward to seeing her leave with Castiel once he came back to take both Dean and Becca.

As for Dean, Despoine knelt beside him to keep from upsetting his injuries. She placed her hand on his forehead and was instantly captured in a wash of pain. It took her all her strength not to let it pull her into his torment, unable to pull him off of the rack, where Castiel along with two men, she recognized as Sam and John Winchester tore out Dean’s heart and feasted on his innards. The Dean on the rack wasn’t even screaming, his pain shown only in the tears dripping from his eyes. 

“You don’t need that heart, Dean. Why, should you, you gave it to us years ago.” She wasn’t even sure which of the three said the actual words, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter as they shared the organ between them, and Dean stared up at them, His body lay still, accepting whatever punishment he was given.

“I sacrificed myself for you,” John Winchester said. “And look what became of you, a pupil of Alistair. The only thing you ever did right was pick up that blade, you couldn’t even become the sword you were supposed to be. You had to put your brothers through that instead. How long did my little Adam suffer because of you, Dean? Because you couldn’t say one little word to spare him the pain?”

“No… it wasn’t like that. I didn’t… I tried to save him.”

“You betrayed him, you betrayed Adam, like you betrayed Sam. I asked one thing of you, to look after your brother, and you couldn’t even do that right.” John grabbed Dean’s face and pushed him down on the rack. “And then you hook up with that … thing.” He threw a disgusted look in Castiel’s direction, even as he said. “No offense meant of course,”while slipping his fingers deeper in Dean’s guts. “And that after that creature tore down the wall in your brother’s head.”

“It wasn’t that bad, Dad. And it’s not like he didn’t try to make up for it. He did go to hell for me, even if it did mean starting the apocalypse and leaving me alone with Ruby.” Dean cringed on the rack, whimpering more and more with each of Sam’s words. “If he had just let me die, as he was supposed to, I would have gone to heaven, and I could have been with you and mom and Jess. But Dean couldn’t do that, now could he? You twisted him so much that he had to bring me back, destroying everything, the entire balance of life and death, just because he couldn’t handle being alone. Not that that mattered when he left me on my own, out there, with nothing but a demon for company. Is it any wonder she twisted me around her finger and made me do whatever she wanted me to? After all, she was just taking the place Dean should have had, if he hadn’t been off playing martyr for the angels instead.”

They both looked up at a loud scoff coming from Dean’s other side. Off Castiel scraping at Dean’s eyes. The man looked up at Castiel, begging him for mercy with empty eye sockets.

“If it weren’t for Dean, Michael would have brought peace to the world, and I’d never have fallen. It was his fault for corrupting me, but then, who other than Dean Winchester would dare and corrupt an angel into falling?”

And on and on it went, a constant string of accusations, telling Dean how worthless he was, how much he’d failed, with Dean returning little more than halfhearted defenses of his own worth. Each word increased Despoine’s desire to get to Dean, making her more convinced she had to get to him, had to save him. But no matter what she did, the resistance was too strong.

Dean trembled on the rack, his ribcage open, even as the three men faded, leaving him behind in the dark, Dean’s loneliness the only torment worse than his loved ones’ cruel barbs. Because at least, even if they’d hated him, their presence meant he’d mattered to them, somehow.

Despoine couldn’t bear it, using all the strength of her will, she finally pushed her way through, tearing down the racks, desperately grasping for anything, any memory strong enough to wipe away the suffering. She found a sky full of light and a little boy staring up at the fireworks, happier than any child she’d ever seen before in her existence. And Dean, a young teenager and more beautiful in his joy than ever, watching the happiness he had given his brother. 

Feeling how Dean felt about his brother, she couldn’t help but love the little boy that was so happy with so little, just this perfect moment of time for both of them. She looked at the sky and realized the location kept switching between earth and heaven. She’d never been in heaven before either.

When Dean woke up to her holding him, he pulled back, barely kept from crawling in a corner by the weakness of his body. She gently caressed his back, and he didn’t even pretend to scoff at her concern. 

“So I’m still alive,” Dean whispered, almost as if he was surprised by the discovery. She gently washed away the sweat from his brow and sent soothing feelings through the symbiote. Dean seemed to notice as his hand brushed over the symbiote soothing it right back. “Where’s Cas?”

“Not here.”

“Here?” 

“The Farm. “

“He left me?” Dean sounded torn between relieved and abandoned, as if he himself wasn’t sure what he’d wanted the answer to be. 

“I wouldn’t let him take you.” She let the words flow out almost incidentally as she brushed his hair with her fingers

He stared at his hands and the bandages on them. 

“I’m your trainer, Dean, that puts you under my protection. I wouldn’t allow a pet in the hands of a god that I believed would cause them harm. I will not allow you to return to Castiel until he can convince me that your safety can be assured.”

“And he let you?” Dean seemed scared, no… he was worried, for her. It was unneeded, but very much appreciated. Such a sweet, darling boy. 

“He does care for you, Dean.“ Dean seemed about to protest and she shut him down, putting her finger on his lips. “He does, but there’s something wrong with him.”

Dean turned to her as if looking at her in a new light, “you noticed?”

She wasn’t even sure what it was she felt around the new god. Most of the time he was perfectly fine, if a bit brusque and cold about anything other than his pet. But there was something rumbling under the god’s skin. Something she couldn’t quite recognize.

“He is corrupted.”

“The souls from Purgatory?”

“No… not quite. Those meant for purgatory are dark yes, and hungry, but they’re not as purely malevolent as the things I feel inside of your master. There’s something inside of him, that’s far worse than any of the alphas put together.”

“You have a weird definition of evil, has anyone ever told you that.” Dean shivered, exhausted by even the short spread of words.

“I’ve told you before, Dean. There’s nothing evil about providing yourself and your family with the food you need to survive. “

“See how you’d,” Dean started coughing at that, and she put her hand on his chest to try and help his breathing get back to normal, “how you’d think about that, if it were your people slaughtered and eaten. If it were your kid torn to pieces and forgotten like he were nothing.”

“I’m sure I would,” she answered, trying to fight a shudder at the thought. “Now sleep; you need the rest.”

Dean tried to protest, but she used the symbiote to force his body into sleep, hoping it’d be enough to help him heal, but knowing it wouldn’t. His injuries, even with Apollo’s help, had been too severe, some of them might even linger for the remainder of his life. This time, she used a command to ensure the bad memories stayed away, and hoped that’d be enough to give him some peace.

She left the room and moved outside, staring at the twin moons spread out in the sky. Some of the herd approached, and she petted them before moving to the valley, allowing nature around her to strengthen her core before she made the call.

It was almost dawn before her pleas were answered. Some of the herd kept coming up to her, seemingly unable to go back to their stables and sleep while someone was around to keep them company. Before it was over, she was surrounded by two dozen of them, all staring at her as if she was going to tell them a story. On any other day, she might have.

“You are… strange,” the former angel said, when he appeared. The herd took one look at him and ran off, the few stragglers that stuck with her were easy to disperse with a direct order.

“Am I?” she asked, looking away from the imprint of her knees on the grass.

“You do realize that I am allowing Dean to remain here. He needs care, and you and your people can provide it. If that were not the case, I would have taken him already.”

“Then tell me, if you care so much about Dean’s wellbeing–and I’ll ignore your reaction to his attitude here for a second–then why haven’t you healed him yet? We both know you’re more than capable of it.”

Castiel seemed a bit stunned at her demand, probably expecting her to be more wary of his power.

“He needed to be punished.”

“He was,” Despoine put her hands on her hips facing the god, “so get on with the healing.”

“He needs to learn to respect me.”

She couldn’t believe how petulant he sounded, like a little kid that didn’t get his way. Even the herd surrounding her was more mature than that, and that was saying something.

“Let me give you a hint, ‘Cas.’”She put every bit of impact she could find into the nickname. “The way to earn Dean’s respect… it won’t be found in harming innocents in front of him, especially this early on. You won’t find it by nearly beating him to death, or by allowing him to suffer. All that teaches him, is that you’re exactly the monster he called you before.”

“I’m not a monster.” Castiel’s rage actually showed on his vessel’s face. Something she’d imagined impossible before. “I am God, and you shall respect me.”

Despoine almost winced, knowing that she’d come closer than ever before to having Castiel wipe out her and her family. But by Olympus, how long could they allow this to continue, to live under this constant threat? Gods weren’t made to bow down.

“Then prove it,” she said, staring her death straight in the face.  
They stood there, facing off until the sun rose, and she was still there, still alive, still untouched.

Something rumbled in Castiel’s chest, as if there was a monster inside of him, desperately craving for a way out.

“Let us help you, Castiel, let _me_ help you be the master Dean deserves, the god humanity needs, instead of whatever you are becoming now.” 

He lifted his hand, about to hit her; she didn’t pull back, but his fist never connected, and dark black started flowing from his eyes and nose.

“Help me,” he whispered as he fell to his knees.


	18. Chapter 18

She didn’t spare any time, helping to carry the former angel inside to the meditation room, while calling out for Apollo to please come, please help, whatever it took. The golden god was already setting up his things by the time they arrived.

Castiel was still streaming the black goop, and Apollo didn’t even bother with his usual bartering. Instead, he got to work, setting up herbs and losing a few drops of blood to set a circle that not even a god could escape from. It seemed as if there was something bothering Apollo, especially after he put his hand on Castiel’s forehead to sense what was wrong with him.

“Dean,” Castiel whispered. 

Apollo gently let go of the newer god, putting him down on the floor. Her cousin seemed to hesitate before conviction took over, and he turned to her.

“He’s right, little cousin. We need the pet. He’ll need to have something close to him that he cares about, if we want to get this out of him without killing both god and vessel.”

“No!” Despoine crossed her arms, firmly against it. “He could kill the boy.” She knew this pet; in a way, she even cared for him, risking his life after all she’d done to save him, it would be wrong, it would be animal abuse. What kind of pet trainer would she be if she took part in that?

“Despoine, if we don’t do this soon, he could kill us all. Ani included.”   
Despoine couldn’t help the shudder that came over her. 

“I might be able to stop that if I start now, but without the pet here to help, I’ll definitely lose Castiel, and we all gave our oath to serve him. What’s the life of one human compared to that?”

Despoine stared at Castiel, the way his vessel shuddered inside the circle, waves of energy and dark gooey slime abandoning his body, dripping into the soil around him.  
She hesitated a moment before stepping through the shadows and reappearing at Dean’s crate, he stared up at her and tried to pull himself to his knees.

“Dean, we need your help.”

“How…” his voice sounded so broken that she couldn’t even blame him for his lack of decorum.

“It’s Castiel.” 

Dean unconsciously pulled back for a second, and Despoine took his hand in hers, offering her support. Gently humming, easing the panic inside of him. It wasn’t until he stopped inching backwards and started leaning forwards, his head a mere inch away from her legs, that she spoke again.

“Apollo says there’s something inside of him, but we can only get it out if we have something… someone he cares about there with us.”

“Me,” Dean whispered, while getting to his feet.

“Dean,” she wasn’t sure if she should tell him, but looking at him, feeling his devotion, she couldn’t stop herself, “it won’t be safe, Dean. Castiel, the thing inside of him, it could kill you.”

Dean coughed, dark thickening slime on his lips that was far too similar to the one on Castiel. She wondered why his symptoms had seemed to worsen, almost as if he already felt his master’s pain on top of his own. “Doesn’t matter.” He stumbled, and Despoine caught him before he fell. “Please Mistress, I want to help.”

She hugged him close, letting his chin touch her shoulder, as she gently brushed her fingers over his spine, and transported them both to the meditation room. Dean stared at Castiel inside the circle, before properly turning down his eyes,. “What should I do?”  
Apollo didn’t answer; he focused too sharply on chanting, but there were sigils ready for Dean to place himself on, so Despoine pointed the human pet towards them. There was something wrong with them. They weren’t Paidopagis, she was sure of that, but they looked like channels to her, and they were far too close to the circle.

Dean, to his credit, didn’t even hesitate; the only hindrance his still-present injuries.

“Dean!” Castiel cried out once again, staring up at his pet with those cold blue eyes.

“I’m here, Cas,” Dean whispered, kneeling in the middle of the sigils, his hands wide open in front of him, barely holding him up. The closer he got to Castiel, the weaker he seemed to become. 

It made Despoine want to grab him up and pull him to safety; instead she bit her lip and did nothing. 

Castiel stared up, seeing Dean for the first time since he had entered. Castiel started crawling towards Dean, but the circle stopped him. Dean tried to sit up, but he couldn’t, it was as if his palms were glued to the floor in front of him.

“Dean, run. I … I don’t want to hurt you.” The word ‘again’ was left unspoken.

“I know,” Dean whimpered, not even fighting the pull of whatever was keeping him down.   
Despoine wondered how he could forgive so easily, but then she realized, it wasn’t even a question. Had Castiel harmed Sam, it’d be another thing, but since as far as Dean knew, the only person Castiel had harmed was Dean himself, Dean wouldn’t even consider holding it against him. 

Castiel crawled closer. Dean leaned up, his forehead almost touching the magical line between him and his master, as if trying to help. The air around the circle vibrated as the new god’s vessel hit it. 

Apollo kept chanting. Despoine took place opposed to him, allowing herself to grab hold of Apollo and herself to him to help with strength and words, whatever he needed. But it wasn’t enough. 

Castiel kept pushing, and pushing, until his hand broke through the circle, his fingers touching Dean. Light sparkled, first from his hand, then his eyes, until his entire face glowed brightly with his grace. Dean sat kneeling before him, staring up at his master, his injuries starting to heal, while the black ooze seeped out of Castiel, attacking the walls of the circle with all its strength, flowing towards the edges, to the sigils on the floor that she now realized where heading straight towards Dean. 

Despoine almost froze, wanted to stop chanting, but it was too late, and Apollo’s strength overran hers, since she’d freely given herself to his aid.

Castiel pushed further through the circle, a few last drops of black ooze abandoning him as Apollo’s chant grew stronger. Castiel’s fingers sparkled as they reached Dean’s face, pulling the human closer to him. 

Despoine screamed, her body continuing the chant, as she tried to fight what she now realized was about to happen. Apollo looked at her, begging her to continue, to stop fighting him on this, but she couldn’t do it; she couldn’t go along with it. Saving a pet, or saving its master, which was the right thing to do? She didn’t even know for sure. Then Dean looked at Castiel, devotion in his eyes, and she knew the pet wouldn’t forgive her if she didn’t do this, if she didn’t help his master. She ran a quiet prayer to Olympus for forgiveness and stopped fighting. 

But it was too late.

The circle ruptured and the black ooze moved over to the closest host it could find that wouldn’t be able to fight it’s infection, flowing into it, forcing its way through the pet’s veins, until his eyes oozed black. He fell back. 

Castiel fell over, his strength leaving him. 

Apollo tried to get up, turning to the now ooze-infected pet, his hands shining with power as he tried to aim his remaining power towards it. 

Dean, or whatever infected him, just smirked as the ball of power came hurtling towards him. He didn’t even flinch, before grabbing it in his hand and throwing it back at Apollo, the force of it pushing the god back into the wall. 

Despoine screamed Dean’s name, making Castiel lift his head towards them both, whispering, “No.”

It was a moment of distraction, and by the time she turned back to Dean, he was gone, out the door, and she was too exhausted to follow. 

She awoke to Castiel standing over her. Something inside of him had changed. He still had the power of millions of souls, more power than she could ever imagine, but the sheer evil of the hunger from before was gone, leaving behind a cold concern and disgust that she didn’t understood the focus of. 

“Where’s Dean?” 

She stared up at him, noticing that Apollo was only now getting up himself. 

“What happened to him?”

“I…” She didn’t know what to say. How could she tell the god what Apollo had done without…

“It was the only way to save you my lord.” Apollo saved her from saying the words.   
The anger Castiel turned towards the golden god made her glad Apollo hadn’t forced her bear the news instead. “I couldn’t fully remove that … those beings inside of you, without giving them a new Vessel. But it had to be something connected to you, something you cared about, that the filth cared about as well because of you.”

“You put that thing into Dean.” Castiel didn’t even need to touch Apollo to have him crumble to the floor. 

Apollo folded in on himself begging for forgiveness, but he kept trying to explain why. That it was the only way; that he’d just been trying to save Castiel. 

Castiel didn’t seem to care. “He was mine ;you had no right.” He seemed shocked at his own vehemence. 

“He’s just a pet, my lord. I know you cared about him; the ritual wouldn’t have worked otherwise. But in the end, I can’t put a pet’s life over that of the god who’s health and wellbeing I serve.”

Castiel had no real response to that, even as he stared at Apollo in a way that Despoine knew by now meant he was reading Apollo’s mind.

“You are wrong,” Castiel finally said before turning to the door. “That human, for all that he is flawed, is worth a million times more than any god, especially myself, and if he dies because of this, I will end you all.”

His threat was cold, soft spoken, but she feared it more than any of Hades or Ares battle cries. She got to her feet, calling after him, begging him to wait. He didn’t.

“I know how to find him”, she finally shouted. It was the only thing that managed to stop him in his tracks.

“How?”

“The symbiote. It allows me to see through Dean’s eyes. I can use the symbiote to find him, to save him.” She added the words, knowing she meant them. Even knowing that possibly the only way to save them all would be to kill the human, and praying it would never become necessary to do so.

Castiel didn’t answer, but she could see by the way he stopped that he was letting her have her chance. Despoine grabbed hold of it. She sat down, crossing her legs and holding up her hands as if allowing the symbiote covering her to connect with all the other symbiotes in the farm. 

There were dozens of them.

She skipped from one to the other, looking through the pets eyes, hoping for a sign of Dean. Some pets were sleeping and she gave them a gentle nudge of comfort, others were attending their owners. She quickly moved past the ones used for sex, not wanting to intrude her fellow gods privacy when she wasn’t invited.

She stopped for a moment as her mind arrived at the kitchen, Darcy and Minoe were helping the cook with preparing for the feast, and Apollo’s new boy, Joel, was approaching the kitchen, probably to get his master’s dinner ready. She wondered if she should tell Apollo to send him a message not to hurry. Apollo wouldn’t want the boy to waste his time. She knew the boy felt tired, his lips and hands felt sore from practicing all day. But Apollo didn’t expect anything, but the best from his pets. 

She followed the pet’s mind for a second as he opened the door and froze. staring inside. The boy had to force himself to step inside, to break the constant fear of the place that kept his heart beating a million times a second. He stared at the humans waiting in the cages, fighting the urge to hyperventilate. Apollo had asked her about ways to help his pet deal with this recurring issue.

There were about thirteen humans spread out over five cages, the majority of them came from the herd and sat quietly drinking from the water bowl placed in their cage with them. They didn’t seem bothered; several of them were sleeping against the bars, and one of the cook’s aids must have given the youngest woman the stuffed doll she held to her chest. Hestia wouldn’t have allowed it in her kitchen otherwise.

The humans in the last cage, weren’t so calm though. One of them was crying in a larger man’s arms, his hands gently caressing over the butterfly tattoo visible on his lover’s back. Another man was rattling the bars, his mouth wide open with silent screams. Despoine guessed that someone had cut his vocal chords to keep the noise down. The only woman in that cage sat huddled in the corner, desperately trying to hide her nude form, staring up as she saw Joel finally move into the kitchen.

The pet swallowed before ringing the bell and kneeling. The cook didn’t like to be hurried; she wasn’t against smacking an unruly pet when needed. It was one of many reasons most pets disliked kitchen duty so much.

“What do you want?” One of the kitchen aids, a young faun, asked. Despoine was about to give up on the kitchen, unable to spot Dean, even if she did feel he was near. 

“I was told to ask for my master Apollo’s dinner,” the boy managed to stutter out as Despoine threw one last look at the kitchen through the pet’s eyes.

“Hey, cook, is Apollo’s dinner ready yet?” The cook didn’t answer, just grumbled something, but it seemed like that was enough for the faun who ordered Joel to kneel on the pillow by the counter as they prepared his master’s food.

Joel was clearly desperately trying not to look at the cages, even if he did keep throwing glances towards them. One of the humans noticed and seemed to think he had an opportunity now that the cook and her aides were too busy to pay attention.

“Kid, please, you have to help us get out of here,” He whispered. 

Joel kept his head down, his hands straining at his sides as he tried to ignore the desperate pleading. Despoine could feel the sweat dripping on the boy’s neck, his muscles tensing. She sent his symbiote a relaxing vibe, trying to help him before he did something that would only get him punished. 

She couldn’t really blame the wild humans for trying. But it was too late for them, so why risk getting a poor innocent pet pulled down with them? Joel at least seemed to have gotten enough training so far to understand at least that much—gotten enough to have him stay put.

Then she felt him, Dean. She reached out for him and then…

“Did you find Dean yet?” She was pulled back in her body. She stared up at Castiel, shaken for a second as she felt his vessel’s hand on her shoulder. His touch was cold, with his grace struggling underneath his skin.

“Yes, I just. I almost had him. He’s at the kitchens. I just… there’s static; I’m trying to get to Dean, but the evil… it’s interfering.”

Castiel stared at her, then before she could stop him, he had his hand on her shoulder, and they disappeared, flying though a separate dimension until they arrived at the corridors outside the kitchen almost the same second that they’d left. Castiel seemed surprised. 

“Castiel?”

“This is not where we were supposed to arrive.” The former angel said, touching the walls. “The kitchen is warded; it will take me a few minutes to break.”

She tried to open the door herself, but he was right, she couldn’t even touch the door. Fear broke out in her mind along with worry about whatever was happening inside. She quickly reached back for Joel’s symbiote, trying to use the young pet as her eyes inside.  
She recoiled in shock when she saw Dean standing over the boy, his eyes crying black, veins popped, dark under his skin. “Dean,” she whispered. 

Castiel froze at the whispered name.

“He’s in there, but he’s not.” She held her hand on the wall to focus herself.  
Castiel didn’t listen, the force of hundreds of souls coursing through him as he pushed his way through the door, bursting it open, the edges burning in their wake. Dean stared up at them both and smiled. But it wasn’t Dean smiling, it was the same vicious grin she’d seen on Castiel’s face when he’d nearly beaten Dean to death. 

The noise of the blast was strong enough that several other gods came running in, staring at the devastation in front of them. Apollo in particular screamed when he saw his pet lying on the floor in front of Dean, who didn’t even seem to care about their arrival. The humans in the cage who were capable of it were screaming, rattling the cage, and most of the aids stood at the edges of the kitchen, ready to run if Dean even looked at them.

“Useless, wasted, should just eat you now, get rid of you.” Dean said, but the way he said it, didn’t sound like the pet that Despoine had come to know. 

“Dean, please. let go of the boy,” she said, trying to calm him down. But Dean just stared at her, not listening, 

“Why should I? Isn’t that what he’s for, what we’re all for?” he picked up the boy as if he was as light as a feather, and Dean’s mouth grew wider and wider. 

Suddenly he flinched, staring at whatever had hit him in the back, looking over his shoulder at the newly arrived gods. Hades had come in, running alongside Demeter. Both of them had raised their hands, using their magic in synch to try and stop him.

“Let go of the pet,” Hades growled. It roared through her, reminding her of the god she’d looked up to as a young girl.

Dean didn’t even answer, about to bite into the boy in his arms.   
Despoine wanted to grab him, stop him, but it was Hades who moved first, pushing into Dean’s back, forcing him to drop the boy, while Demeter used his distractions to push the cages with the humans to safety. . 

“We don’t eat pets!” Hades screamed, while trying to push Dean to the ground. It didn’t work; whatever was inside of Dean was too powerful to be held down, even by a god.

“Silly godling, thinks it matters, thinks it’s our equal. Nothing but an imagination of the human mind, created by their impulses, created by their thoughts. It’s all you are, silly godling. Silly little thing.”

Hades growled, but Dean just picked Hades up in the air, bringing him down to his knee, as if to break him in two. 

Despoine couldn’t help a scream, looking at the god she’d once loved, the god she hadn’t wanted to see again. But seeing him stand up for the pet, seeing him come to the rescue, it reminded her far too much of the god he’d been to her before the soul hoarders stole his domain, before he became the cruel god he was today.

“Please Dean, don’t….” she tried to order the pet. But the power of the things inside Dean was too great, too ancient, for it to work. “Dean I order you to stop. Put him down now.” Despoine shook with desperation, tears filling her eyes as the pet who so hated to see those weaker than himself hurt, turned into a monster all too willing to eat anything. The monster inside of Dean just licked its lips, its mouth moving to Hades neck. 

She tried to step forward, anything to save Hades.   
Dean laughed in her face, his mouth stretching further until it encompassed the god’s head.

Suddenly she became aware of Castiel standing in front of her, between her and Dean.

“Drop him. Drop him and kneel.”

For a moment it was as if the black slid away to show Dean’s bright green eyes.

“Drop the god, Dean.” 

Dean flinched, a ripple coursing through him, as if two opposing forces were fighting one another inside of him. But somehow it was working. A master’s orders, she realized. It was too soon, Dean shouldn’t be this close to true submission, not even close to it. But somehow, Hades ended up thrown to the side, hitting the fryer causing boiling fat to drip over him. Dean’s hands moved down his legs, muscles tensing underneath, the human soul wanting to kneel, the things inside of him in rage at the very though.

“You can’t have two masters Dean. Either you are mine—my pet, my boy, my human—or you are theirs.”

Green, Dean’s eyes were clearing. 

“And if you are theirs, I’ll have no choice but to get a new pet. I’ll have to go get Sam. It would only be fair, don’t you agree.” With every step Castiel came an inch closer, not caring about his own safety, only about that of his pet., his voice ringing with authority.

She could practically feel the temperature rising inside of Dean. The struggle behind his eyes visible to all those around him.

“Me or them, Dean.” Castiel continued. “Are you my pet, will you sit at my feet and follow my orders, or will you let them use you up, until they head off and eat Sam using your face?”

“You don’t care about humans,” the things inside Dean stated, trying to fight it’s Vessel from giving in to its master, to fight Dean, as he took a step closer to Castiel. 

“Really?”

“You sacrificed millions of them. Why should Dean believe you care? Why shouldn’t he just let us have him, let us protect him and his?”

Castiel flinched, even if only for a second, but then he grew stronger, taking a step forward and touching Dean’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet, the goop desperately reaching out to him as if trying to get back inside Castiel, yet seemingly stuck in place.. “Because he’s my pet,” Castiel stated, his lips touching Dean’s, kissing him with full abandon. “and I love him.” He whispered, letting go of Dean’s lips, releasing the hold of the human’s body, allowing him physical freedom, but his eyes never leaving his pet’s. 

“You disobeyed my orders, Dean. You’re not supposed to sacrifice yourself. Not ever, not even for me. Now be a good pet and let them go, Dean, and kneel before your master.”  
Suddenly Dean’s body fell over, light glowing throughout as Castiel knelt next to him.   
“Good boy, Dean; good pet.”

Ashes of black fell beside Dean, his soul burning the black goop out of him, getting rid of it in a way that only a human soul could have done. The other gods stood frozen, staring at the scene in awe, it was a long time since any of them had felt the true power of a human soul, reminding them once again why the gods served man, as much as man served the gods. 

It amazed Despoine, even as she ran to her husband, desperate for him to be well. 

“Persephone?” he whispered, staring up at her, his eyes oh so familiar.

“I’m here,” she whispered, staring over her shoulder at Castiel and his pet. “I’ll always be here.”

She didn’t even bother to look as Castiel took Dean in his arms and carried him out. She cried, admiration for the pet, for true submission, a test that should have been a long time away, but had come to pass tonight in the worst way imaginable. Her heart filled with pride for having been allowed to be part of it. 

Even as now, as always, she was left behind, and master and pet headed off into the future. Ignoring the kitchen aids who came back out of hiding and went right back to work, setting the kitchen back in order. Surprised to find that the cages with the humans were empty, the humans nowhere to be found.


	19. Chapter 19

The new pet was locked in restraints as he sat at her feet while she watched television. The gag keeping him from speaking up, or more accurately, yelling at her or Hades over how they couldn’t do this to him. It didn’t stop him from rolling her eyes at her, or glaring at the both of them. She was this close to ordering his symbiote to serve as a blindfold.

Her brother Areion had handed the boy over to her about a month ago, sick and tired of the kid’s refusal to obey. Two years and still the kid acted as if they were going to let him go any day now. That any day his parents would pay whatever ransom he’d expected them to pay the day Areion took him, and that he’d be able to go home, and ignore all of this. Even showing him his grave, or the look of his parents just continuing their life without him didn’t change his disposition.

Not that she expected anything else; her brother didn’t have a clue how to bend a pet without breaking it. She leaned back into her husband’s chest as Ani ran around them. Darla and Darren were laughing about something in the kitchen while preparing their food. A chicken sandwich. For Hades it was practically vegetarian.

She saw the news coming on and turned up the sound. The human in front of the camera stood wide eyed, staring over his shoulder at the god who’d arrived at the assembly. The camera zoomed in on Castiel, who spoke to the United Nations, the so-called human leaders of the world. Dean sat kneeling by his master’s side, dressed in a fine pair of leather pants and a silk see through shirt.. 

She smiled, it was nice to know that Castiel had followed her advice in regards to his pet’s outfit.

A few steps behind them was Becca, the newly minted head priestess of Castiel’s church. And according to the god’s words, the new head of all human religion in his honor. The girl was about seven months pregnant, and Castiel had already arranged for Despoine’s services as a midwife to deliver Dean’s children. 

The human commentator finally silenced when Castiel spoke, freeing all humans to serve him willingly or not. They would have a choice as to whom they served, and it would be up to him to prove that the was the god worthy of their devotion.

“So, are you angry?” she asked Hades, her fingers playing with the boy’s leash as she whispered in her husband’s ear..

“What about?”

“That the council accepted Castiel’s rearrangement of the deal.”

No more humans could be preyed upon, outside of the few he’d allowed before, the criminal, the dying. Pets could be taken, but only among those who were lost or abandoned. But it would be Castiel’s Hunters who would keep the peace and ensured that the majority of humanity was left in peace.

Hades seemed to hesitate.

“I never cared about the gold,” he said, staring at the pet in front of them, before brushing through the boy’s hair, ignoring the human’s flinch. “That was just… I wanted to impress you, to show you that just because I lost my domain, I still mattered. I thought it would bring you back to me. I was wrong.”

“Yes. You were.” But he’d paid for that, A separation of more than a millennia, her disregard, her disdain of him, she wondered how much of it had made him worse than he’d have been otherwise. She pushed away the guilt and focused on the present.

“When Castiel released the soul hoarders’ claim on humanity’s faith, I regained what I never thought would be mine again. Tartarus, even the gardens; it’s all once again mine. As soon as I kick out that upstart Crowley. With you here, and Hell back under my control, I don’t think I mind losing out on human flesh… too much.” His hand brushed down the boy’s back, forcing him to lift his head. “Look at that pet, boy.” He told the pet, forcing him to look at Dean. “That’s everything anyone could hope for in a human.”  
Persephone turned around, her lips touching her husband’s, letting him pull her closer, gently kissing her forehead. 

“The bedroom?” he asked, before picking her up and carrying her away. 

She didn’t need to turn around to know that Kyle was still looking at the screen, at Dean.

Castiel’s perfect pet.

 

fin


End file.
